The True Priestess of Seiryu
by Hiei'sTreeHuggingGirlfriend
Summary: Yui has been replaced by shameless and sharp tongued Rin Izaya. See how the story of Fushigi Yuugi would change and be told from the side of this relentless Seiryu priestess. Rated T for language and sexual themes.
1. Demon

Alright; its been awhile since I've put up a fanfic. This is my first story ever with Fushigi Yuugi too. For fair warning, I'm going to follow along with the original Fushigi Yuugi story line as much as possible, tweaking it along the way to accommodate for my main character. There will, however, be some added scenes in the middle, meaning it's not entirely based on the Fushigi Yuugi story line either. I'll do my best to keep all Fushigi Yuugi characters in their proper character ( I make no promises though).

I apologize in advance for my main character's name (some of you may recognize it from another anime/manga entirely.) I planned on changing it once I found a better when, but I eventually had so much writing with this as her name that I couldn't possibly thinking of changing it now. My bad. ^^;;;

Oh, disclaimer time: I do not own any of the Fushigi Yuugi characters. My main character, however, belongs exclusively to me. So hands off. D

Without further adieu, here is the beginning of the story.~~~

_Herein contains the story of a young lady and her quest to gather the Constellations of Seiryu together. And if you, the esteemed reader, should read to the story's end, the spell contained within this book shall bestow upon you the powers of the heroine, and grant you your wish. For indeed the moment the page is turned the story will become reality. _

She was monstrous. Even her appearance seemed to speak of a connecting to her inner animal, or rather, her inner demon. Those who bore witness to her slaughter swore on their lives that she was a demon, the devil incarnate. Few would've denied that she looked fierce; blood tangled in her short black hair. Drops of the vibrant red liquid touched her smooth, wan cheeks and stained the front of a thin, worn out shirt that had once been white, but looked a dull gray. Swiveling, her leering gray eyes moved from one man to the next, face contorted was contorted. Baring her teeth like a dog, her nose was wrinkled much like her lip. These were, however, less unsettling then the smirk that remained plastered across her pale lips. In her grasp, held fast in her thin hand, the glimmering of a blood coated blade matched the shine that emanated from the entire outer curve of her ears. The citizens that observed stared with slacking jaws, aghast, containing her in a circle that was at least two feet wide at all times. Only the bravest or strongest among the crowds dared step within this space.

Scattered about the street, within this circle around the girl, were four bodies. All men and dressed in filthy, unkept garments each had at least one blooded spot upon their bodies, though two sported a great many gashes and stab wounds. One was a rather large man, heavy weighted, while another, one that had been killed with relatively little struggle, was small. The other two were both men of average size and bulk; enough muscle that if they'd been alive, the scrawny demon girl would've seemed little to no challenge for them from physical comparison alone.

Shoving past the citizens, a handful of military officers, clad in blue shaded clothe and armor glittering in the midday sun, left their horses behind in the care of one of their fellow men. At the head of these soldiers was a man whom bore an overpowering presence. A dragon's head leered down from his helmet at those inferior in height, and a royal blue scar hung around his shoulders, covering his face. The only thing clear about his features around the scare was his eyes, the color of sapphires, and the hair that broke free of his helmet in small, golden yellow tendrils. As the men approached the scene, the blue eyed, blond haired soldier was the only one not to gawk in utter disbelief or cringe at the sight in the center of the circle which the city goers had formed around the demon girl.

As they step forwards, scattering around to guard the citizens of their city, the demon swung her gray eyes to the soldiers that had made there way to towards her. Her gaze focused in on the man with sapphire eyes, being the warrior that stood a step in front of any of the others that had arrived with him.

" Neh, neh," her voice came out hoarse, crackling, but she still managed to speak at a level volume, " I don't suppose you all would be kind enough to tell me just where the hell I am right now, would you?" Despite her words, she held her knife up in front of herself, eyes moving over the cluster of soldiers. Her gaze quickly returned to the blue eyed man. With a nonchalant wave of her free hand, she went on. " These guys were too busy trying to get a piece of my ass; they didn't have the time to tell me." then she motioned to the two men closer to the guards and added. " And neither did their friends. People here sure are busy." A smirk pulled at her lips and she gave a snicker.

" You little bitch-!" one guard began to step forwards until the blue eyed soldier held out his arm to prevent him. All of those with the man turned stares onto their blue eyed leader.

" General-"

" I'll take care of this." he declared, voice deep. As he stepped forwards, the demon girl's eyes narrowed, though the twisted smile never wavered from her lips. Flicking her wrist, she knocked the blood still lingering on her blade to the ground and held it aloft once again. Her tongue slide past her lips and ran along her lower lip as her eyes took in the blue eyed general; from his size and build to the tiniest details of his decorative armor.

" You have pretty eyes." she said with a little smile. The general gave a blank stare back at her, not unsettled by her sudden compliment like his underlings were.

She had no warning or even a chance to defend herself.

An invisible weight crashed against her chest, enough force behind it that the demon girl was thrown off of her feet and sent flying down the road, heading straight one of the many buildings in the area.

The impact with the structure, had the immediate attention of the general. A faint glow that emanated off of the girl, an aqua blue. When she reached the wall, she struck the wall with a light thump rather then the spine crushing crash that was supposed to occur. After a few seconds, this female demon sank slowly to the ground, turned slightly onto her right side so that the left was angled upward. Her head bent at an angle, her temple resting against the wall. When the glow faded the girl lay still, unmoving except for the small rise and fall of her torso. The general, his soldiers in toe, walked towards the demon, watching her, holding onto their weapons as though they expected her to leap to her feet and begin massacring at anytime.

Gazing at her, the general and his men found a dragon glaring up at them from its imprinted place upon her shoulder.

" Just who is this girl?"~~

She woke slowly, eyelids fluttering. It took several seconds for her eyes to clear and when they did, she blinked hard, turning her head to the side. Groaning, she reached out a hand and began to pick herself up, a blanket falling away from her neck as she did. When she lifted her torso, however, a deep, agonizing pain rippled through her chest, knocking the wind out of her. Biting her lower lip, she gasped, cringing, arms wrapping around her bandaged, bare midsection.

" A broken rib." a voice echoed the words that were running through her mind, drawing her pain ridden face upward. Despite the missing helmet and face mask, the demon recognized the blue eyed general, her storm cloud colored eyes taking inventory of the vibrant golden hairs that lined the man's head. His voice was tart and even toned as he added on. " Hairline fractured ankle and wrist, as well as extensive bruising and a gaping hole in your right side," walking across the room he took a chair and sat down in it on the opposite side of the room, crossing his arms and gazing at her with a cool glare, " you won't be moving anywhere any time soon." Throughout his talk, the girl's face had eased from its cringing so that by the time he finished she was simply watching him. A short pause followed his words. Then, suddenly, she gave a half smirk and a snort.

" Is that all?" she prompted, chuckling to herself. A scowl formed on her lips as she straightened, body moving stiffly, painfully as she did. Placing her hands in her lap, she frowned glancing up and gazing at one of the drapes hanging from the bed posts that reached up high over her head. " I would've sworn to the Gods that my entire back was shattered, considering that flight I took before passing out." After a second of sitting there, presumably considering her own words, she gave her shoulders a shrug and turned her attention back onto the general.

" If you don't mind me asking, where exactly am I? What is this place?" It's only then that she takes notice of the rest of the room, in particular the quality of everything within her sight. As the general spoke next, the girl, a twinkle entered her eyes as she bounced in place, reached out her hand and ran it smoothly along the edges of the blanket in her lap.

" You are in the palace of the Emperor of Kuto, in my personal quarters." the frown on his face deepened as he saw the girl gather a small amount of the blanket in her arms and start rubbing it against her face. Humming, she smiled, resting her chin against the bundle and gazing up at the drapes again.

" Kuto, neh?" she said, thoughtful for a few moments. Then she shrugged her shoulders, turning her eyes back onto the general. " Never heard of it. Some place big and important?" this prompted question didn't get an immediate answer. The military man gazed at her steadily with those bright blue eyes, icy enough that the girl visibly shivered in front of him. However, she seemed less then afraid, because despite the quaking that went up her spine, she continued to smile childishly at him.

" 'Never heard of it'?" he echoed her exactly words, speaking carefully, as though he hadn't quite heard what she had said correctly. When he did though, a frown formed on the girl's face and she grunted back at him.

" Yeah, that's what I said." she answered. There was another pause, one where the two simply gazed at each other, both seeming to have befuddled the other profoundly with only a few short statements. Clearing his throat, the soldier was the one that recovered himself first. However, before he could say a word, the demon girl broke in. " Neh, neh, out of seer," she paused for a second, frowning, resting an index finger against her chin before going on, " _curiosity_, the words 'Tokyo, Japan' don't mean anything to you, do they?" The solider didn't answer, but it seemed that the demon wasn't actually searching for a verbal reply from him. Instead, she lowered her head, humming, entire hand resting against her chin by that point as her brows furrowed. Watching her for a few moments, the Kuto General interrupted her thoughts with his words.

" You're not actually from this world," the demon girl raised her head and blinked at him as the man finished, " are you?" Another stillness fell between them; that was, until the battered and broken girl let out a long sigh and started to laugh.

" Ah, thank goodness," she said, placing a hand over her chest as she explained, " that was exactly what I was thinking. Glad to know I'm not losing my mind or anything serious like that." her tone lowered to a mutter then and she spoke to herself. " Unless I'm imagining all of this." planting her teeth together, her mouth formed a long, thin opening and her eyes bulged for a second, then her features relaxed once more. Her eyes focused in on the military man, holding him in a steady stare like stone.

After a few seconds of the two simply gazing at one another, the girl suddenly clapped her hands together. " That's right! I haven't told you my name yet!" she mentioned, giving a giggle. " How rude of me; my name is Rin Izaya. Call me Izaya." extending a hand in his direction, Izaya the demon smiled broadly at the general. Without hesitation, the military man took her hand, receiving a squeeze from the thin, bony finger that wrapped around his own.

" Nakago." he answered in kind. Humming, Izaya nodded back at him, their hands falling away from one another. The smile on her lips grew a little wider.

" Na-ka-go." she repeated, seeming to roll each syllable across her tongue as she spoke. The whole time she gazed at him, stare as unyielding as it had been the first time. " Pleasure to meet you."~~~~~~~~~~

That's chapter one. Not the best and a bit short but it will do. Things will get a little more exciting next time. Again, I apologize about the name. Read and review! Please don't eat me alive!


	2. Rescue

Alright, so this is the next chapter. There will be a lot more about Izaya herself and about where in the Fushigi Yuugi story line that this is at in this one, so I hope you like it.

Disclaimer: The only character I own is my OC, Izaya.

Without any more delay, here's the next chapter.~~~~~

It was some time before Nakago actually intended to introduce her to the Emperor of Kuto. Part of this was due to her physical condition. Despite her supposed, verbal admission to fitness, her body itself said otherwise. She was somewhere between lean and gaunt, her features holding lines that could often be seen in homeless men in the bad side of the capital. Not only that, but a few days after awakening from her unconscious state she became ill with a fever. Several doctor visits later the military captain had been made aware of two or three deficiency types and a cold that were bogging down her physical being along with her simple, blatant malnutrition as one expert put it. Given medicine, vitamin tables, and a suggested diet to put her back at proper health, it was some time before she actually started showing the signs of getting better.

The other half of the reason that Nakago held back at introducing her to the Emperor was for something a little more. . .well, unfix-able might be the right way to put it. He hadn't realized when first speaking to Izaya just how deep her lack there of politeness ran. That all changed two days later, finding her huddled amongst some of his soldiers exchanging vulgar jokes and miming slapstick comedy. As much as his soldiers enjoyed hearing the strange young girl out cuss one of their greenhorns, it rather made the idea of presenting her to the Emperor for a proper introduction something rather daunting to say the least.

Still, she would need to meet with him at some point and preferably soon, because word of her presence had been spreading like wild fire. First the soldiers, followed shortly there after by the cleaning staff and the cooks thanks to her necessary dietary changes. Izaya herself didn't make hiding her presence an altogether easy task either. True, the majority of the time she was eating or sleeping, but when she wasn't doing these she was wandering around. At first she simply meandered around the barracks, finding soldiers that were off duty to talk to and pass the time with. Oddly enough, the men greatly enjoyed her company once they got passed the initial fear of her lashing out like she had back in the alleyway.

Hiding her wouldn't have been such a problem if she'd stuck to this. However, it wasn't long after that that she began pushing the boundaries, going to the kitchen to ask for snacks from the cooks when she was feeling hungry and following around cleaning girls to talk with them as they worked. Of course the next step was simply wandering around by herself, which she was doing by the end of the first month. How Nakago had managed to keep her from being discovered by the entirety of the rest of the Palace was something of a mystery to all those who considered it after the fact.

During that time, Nakago had also picked up on a few of her . . .habits of sorts. The first and perhaps most bizarre of them had come as a complete shock during the middle of the third week of hiding her. Having found Izaya missing from her room yet again, the regular low key search for her had begun like always. Not finding her with any of his soldiers, Nakago made a stop at the kitchen next, finding that it was a typical spot for her to go if none of his men were up for entertaining her for a few hours. It was almost like a routine and when he'd asked the kitchen staff, they had admitted that she was with them. Taking him to her, they'd all been surprised to find her curled up like a cat, sleeping contently on top of several bags of rice.

From then on, Izaya was found in a multitude of odd places and positions, sleeping the day away in most cases. These included the armory,  
any of the handful of soldier practice grounds within the palace walls, the guard towers along the palace walls themselves, the floor of her room, the floor of empty guest rooms, the storage room for the kitchen, but her absolute favorite stop to fall asleep was the Temple of Seiryu. In almost every new place she could be found sleeping in she could also be found sleeping in a different position. Curling up on sacks of rice, upright, hand on her chin with sharpened spears beside her, sprawled out flat on her back in the grass, arms over her head on her stomach, cheek resting against the floor. It had turned into a game of sorts for the soldiers to show off the newest Izaya sleep position of choice just as the regular searches had turned into something more like games of hide-and-seek with the girl. This was only one of many of the odd behaviors that Rin Izaya exhibited.

Finally, the day came to introduce her to the Emperor. That particular day Nakago was assigned to boarder patrol in the early morning. He planned to introduce Izaya later that evening, preferably after the Emperor was finished with his meal and was enjoying a bit of leisure before bed. However, during his patrol Nakago had picked up a young girl. According to the men guarding the boarder she had claimed that she was the Priestess of Seiryu. Judging by her clothes, Nakago had taken a guess as to whom she was and quickly had her escorted to the palace. Once there, he had presented her to the Emperor immediately, then finally having Izaya brought out into the open as well.

A perfect plan, some would call it.

Upon the sight of the other girl, Izaya's gray eyes had grown wide, her attention snagged as she observed the other girl carefully for a few moments. " Those clothes. . .are you-?"

" So it's true!" the other girl exclaimed instantly walking up to Izaya and extending her hands in greeting, dropping the bag that she'd had slung over her shoulder to the ground as she approached with a smile on her face. " There was another girl from my world here." Izaya gave the other girl a blank stare in return, as though the other girl had spoken at her in a foreign language. " My name's Miaka Yuki." Still looking a little baffled, Izaya extended her hand and shook it with one of Miaka's hands.

" Rin Izaya." she murmured back with a warm smile on her lips. Miaka, still smiling widely at Izaya, nodded her head.

" Please to meet you, Rin-" was what Miaka began to say.

" Izaya." blinking, Miaka gave a befuddled look at Izaya for this curt interruption. A few seconds later, her facial features having gained a tighter appearance to them, the gray eyed girl repeated. " Call me Izaya." Then, stiffly, she released Miaka's hand, Miaka seeming confused, but didn't question Izaya further on the subject. In the meantime, the rest of those around to witness the introduction of the two supposed Priestesses of Seiryu were murmuring amongst themselves.

" But then. . . which one is the Priestess of Seiryu?" they fretted until Nakago answered the question for them, finding the Suzaku's Shi Jin Tenchi Sho. The commotion that followed was what one might expect. As the guards encroached on the two girls, Miaka drew closer to Izaya, gazing around and holding to the front of the other girl's thin white shirt. Izaya, meanwhile, was simply looking back at the guards. She'd seen them for the past few months, knew them as they knew her, perhaps giving her a feeling of security.

Either way, they were interrupted by another guard reporting to Nakago about a disturbance at the palace entrance, an opportunity that Miaka took advantage of. Shoving the nearest guards out of the way, she forced her way free, running down the halls while dragging Izaya along by the arm. When they had finally stopped moving, hiding in one of the side rooms, Miaka gave a sigh of relief and smiled at Izaya.

" That was a close one, wasn't it Ri-" Miaka's voice cut off when Izaya sent a glare at her. " -Izaya." Frowning still, Izaya ran a hand through the short stocks of black hair on her head giving a sigh.

" Yeah, um, why exactly did you come here?" she inquired, voice holding an almost disinterested tone as she faced Miaka. Miaka blinked at her, seeming befuddled yet again and Izaya rolled her eyes.

" I came to rescue you." the other girl answered and Izaya crossed her arms, raising a brow and giving Miaka a long stare for a few moments.

" Rescue-me?" she echoed back the words slowly, as though not sure she'd quite heard right. Smiling, Miaka nodded in answer.

" Yeah, these people are trying to force you into becoming the Priestess of Seiryu, aren't they?" she inquired and Izaya nodded her head once in response. " And you've also heard about the war that they're trying to start with Konan and everything, right?" Once more, Izaya nodded, arms still crossed, looking anything but convinced at that point. Miaka's cheeks puffed up and she waved her arms around as she went on. " Well, doesn't all that sound really bad to you? Lots of people could get hurt!" Placing a finger to her chin, Izaya raised her head and gazed at the ceiling.

" Yeah, I guess they could." she agreed, finally nodding her head. " That's no good; we need to find a way out of here then." Miaka gave a smile, nodding her head as Izaya finally inched a bit further into hiding. The short haired girl glanced out around the side of the curtain, looking down the hallway one direction and then the other.

While she was searching, Miaka observed her. She noticed right away that Izaya was actually around her brother's age, or maybe a year or two younger; 20 years old. Seeing the many piercings that the older girl had on her ears, Miaka's eyes drifted down, and were drawn to a bit of black ink that showed around the bottom of Izaya's t-shirt. Grabbing onto Izaya's arm, she pulled up on the short sleeve, revealing the face of the dragon. It glared up at Miaka, the Suzaku priestess taking a step back. When she raised her head, she found the older girl glaring down at her.

" Can I help you?" Izaya cleared her throat, frowning, her brows arched downward. Taking another step back, Miaka waved her hands back and forth in front of herself, flustered.

" Excuse me! I didn't mean to intrude, but," lowering her eyes she pointed at the tattoo, prompting, " they didn't-?"

" I got this guy long before I came to this world." Izaya cut her off half way, baring her teeth in a wolfish grin as she patted the face of the dragon on her arm and added. " Pretty cool, isn't he? The rest of his body runs along my back, see?" As she began to yank her shirt up to try and show Miaka however, the younger girl quickly stopped her, face turning pink.

" Izaya, we don't have time for this! We need to find a way out of here!" she insisted. In response, Izaya gave a scowl, placing a hand on her hip and glaring at Miaka all the more.

" Then how do you propose that we get out of here?" was the question she offered in retort, shrugging her shoulders as she glanced over her shoulder out into the hallway. " The guards that are running around out there aren't push overs you know; they're well trained, I know it for a fact. We're not going to be able to fight our way out of here." Nodding, Miaka frowned, crossing her arms. She turned her head to one side, then to the other. Raising an index finger, she opened her mouth to speak, but quickly shut it again. Frowning all the more, she placed a hand on her chin, raised an index finger again, the slumped completely.

" No idea." she answered, dismal, her downward stare preventing her from seeing Izaya roll her eyes.

Instead, she gave a sigh, running a hand through her short black grabbed Miaka by the arm and began dragging her down the hall at a run. " Well, we won't get anywhere standing around here; come on! I think this way leads towards one of the back doors out of here."

From there, Izaya began to lead the way out, slipping from one room and hiding stop to the next. Whenever a guard came close, Izaya waved a hand at Miaka, placing a finger to her lip to keep the other girl from speaking until the danger of discovery had passed. Around each corner that they turned, she would peak out around it first, checking for anyone first and foremost before speaking out into the open. More then once she gave Miaka a set of instructions about how to follow, warning the Suzaku priestess about creaky floor boards as they went.

" You're really good at this, Izaya." Miaka commented at one point, finally being given the signal to speak once more from the older girl. Turning, Izaya gave a dry smile back at her younger counter part, silent for a moment. Then, she focused forwards once again, it was only once she'd taken a good look around that she finally gave an answer.

" You have no idea." this answer was met with a blank stare from Miaka. However, Izaya didn't say anything more, instead shoving Miaka back into hiding, pressing her back against the standing decoration as several more guards moved past. Blinking, Miaka peaked out around the side of their hiding space.

" More guards." she murmured, Izaya shushing as she yanked the younger girl back into hiding again.

" Do you want to get caught?" hissing, Izaya shook her head, carefully glancing out around the standing painting herself. The guards had passed, but Izaya still gave a sigh, placing a hand over her heart. " At this rate we're not even going to make it outside, let alone out of the palace grounds-"

" AHHH!" Miaka's suddenly exclamation caused Izaya to jump. Body tensed, she turned to give a long stare at the other girl. " I forgot the Shi Jin Tenchi Sho! There are the clues for the other three constellations! I have to get it back from that guy!" Then, before Izaya could stop her, Miaka stepped out into the open, right as another guard was making his way down the hallway. He glanced over, spotting Miaka just as Izaya snatched her by the arm.

" Idiot! Get back here-!"

" You two-!" the guard's shout was cut off abruptly as he was sent crashing to the floor. Behind where the guard had just been, was a young man, dripping wet, both of his hands rolled into fists and held aloft.

" Ta-Tamahome!" said by Miaka, Izaya blinked, frowning at the young girl. This didn't last long as Miaka quickly hide behind Izaya, scrunching up, looking as though she would've liked nothing more then to evaporate into the air around them.

" Miaka!" the boy was tall compared to Izaya, whom was already about two inches taller then Miaka. His dark hair clung to his neck and face, damp from the rain that had been coming down outside for a little while by that time. Frowning slightly, Izaya linked her gray eyes with the gray eyes of the boy before her. His blue clothes were held to his body by a bright red belt around his waist, dark pants and flat shoes finishing off his wardrobe. Placing a hand on her hip, a smirked pulled across Izaya's lips as she gazed at him steadily. " Ah." after a second he blinked, then seemed to take notice of Izaya's unwavering stare. Shifting from one foot to the other, he reached up and scratched the back of his wet head. " Um, hello?"

" Hi," Izaya greeted back in return, abruptly side stepping, putting Miaka straight in front of Tamahome, " I'm guessing you're a friend of her's, right?" Blinking, he looked from Miaka to Izaya, nodding his head slowly after a second. " Then you take her. She's so hopeless that I can't take babysitting her for any longer." Scowling, Miaka crossed her arms, glaring at Izaya. However, the older girl was already sweeping past the two of them, back into the hallway.

" Hey, wait, where are you going?" the boy inquired, and Izaya glanced at him over her shoulder.

" To get your Shi Jin Tenchi Sho from Nakago." she sniffed, jerking a thumb as Miaka. " Your little priestess came here to 'rescue' me and ended up losing the thing to the Kuto military general. Since they all think I'm the priestess of Seiryu, the guards won't hurt me, and Nakago won't deny me the Shi Jin Tenchi Sho if I ask for it, so there's nothing to worry about." Turning, she walked out into the hallway at her leisure, waving her hand in the air as she went. " I'll be back in a little bit." Then, she left them there, as simply as that.~~

She found Nakago fairly quickly. A cluster of soldiers stood around him and he was organizing the men into different search parties. Several of the men around shouted and pointed as she approached, eventually leading Nakago to follow their index fingers to where she was. A smirk played across her lips as she swaggered up to the collection of men. Placing a hand on her hip, she popped it to the side, gazing steadily up into Nakago's eyes.

" Hey." she said, Nakago holding her eyes as evenly as she held his. His mouth was drawn into a tight line, making his expression seem angry. If this was truly how he felt at the time remained to be seen. When he spoke his tone was level, difficult to read.

" Where have you been?" he insisted, a short pause following his words. During that time, Izaya's eyes moved up and down Nakago's form, taking inventor of him or so it seemed. After a second, she hummed, turning her head to the right while switching her hips, popping the left to the side, but keeping her hand on her right one. Then, finally she shrugged.

" No where in particular. Just around, like usual." was her answer for him. The smirk on her face widened when the lines on the military man's face deepened. " Anyways, you have the copy of the Shi Jin Tenchi Sho that that girl from earlier brought with her right?" Laying out a hand, palm facing upward, between the two of them, she finished. " Can I have it? It's kind of important, you know?"

For a second, the stern expression on Nakago's face remained. Then, suddenly, his face took a different turn; except for his arching brows, his facial features relaxed. Leaning forwards, he lowered himself so that their eyes could be on an equal level, a smirk of his own coming to his lips.

" Just what is it that you're up to, Miss Izaya?" he inquired, raising a brow at her. Forcing her still upward facing hand between the two of them, Izaya simply smiled all the more, miming his action with her own brow.

" Izaya," she insisted, " just Izaya." Scowling, Nakago took the Suzaku priestess' copy of Shi Jin Tenchi Sho out from a pack on his belt. As he pressed it into the palm of Izaya's hand, he placed his other hand against the pillar, hall pinning her skinny, small frame against it due to his broader, bulkier form. " Nothing that you'd be interested in, I'm sure; just a little game." she answered, chipper fingers curling around the scroll as she slowly slipped it out of his grasp. As the scroll fell from Nakago's hand, he grabbed her by the chin, jerking her head upward, holding her face close; too close.

" A game?"

" Yep," as she answered, instead of backing up against the pillar, to be as far from Nakago as she could possibly get, Izaya instead leaned forwards, " and a show." Moving her arm back and stuffing the scroll into the back pocket of her jeans, at the same time her opposite hand reached out. Laying her hand against the general's cheek, the two were even closer still then they had been before, the soldiers all around them waiting silently, breath baited. " It's an adventure of sorts; I'm not quite sure how it's going to end." Then, she gave Nakago's cheek a firm smack, jerking her chin free of his hand.~~

Returning to Miaka and Tamahome, Izaya appeared just as the two had locked lips in a kiss. She stopped, grinning as she leaned against the door frame, humming a little tune to herself. As the kiss stretched on for several moments Izaya cleared her throat loudly, the two of them leaping apart as their heads swiveled in Izaya's direction. Both of their faces were red and the older girl threw her head back and laughed, shaking her head.

" You two want me to wait out in the hallway for another minute or two while you finish up here? Or are you all done and ready to leave? Cause now would be a good time for it; the guards have taken off for the time being." with that she glanced around the hallway once more while her two younger companions got up, both stiff as boards and possibly more red then they had been when first being discovered by Izaya.

" No! We're fine!" Miaka insisted, walking up to Izaya so straight that her knees and elbows didn't bend.

" Y-Yeah." Tamahome agreed, following after Miaka, moving in exactly the same way. Shaking her head, Izaya rolled her eyes spinning around and beginning to lead the way at a jog.

" Hey, relax. Next time I'll remember to knock first." she said with a laugh, speaking over her shoulder as she continued to lead them along. " Anyways, right now is our chance to get out of here. I overheard some of the orders given out to the soldiers while I was getting the Shi Jin Tenchi Sho; it sounds like the search has spread out of the palace itself to the grounds and areas around it." A gasp escaped both of them.

" Really?" Miaka asked, hopeful and Izaya nodded, humming to affirm the fact all the more.

" Don't get too excited," Tamahome warned Miaka, " that still leaves us no way out of here."

" That's right," Izaya agreed, " but I think I know a place where we can be safe until all of this blows over. We'll have to make our way back out again, of course," waving her hand, she finished, " but there should be less guards around then. With cover of night added to it, we should be able to slip out of the palace and palace grounds easy. At least compared to this." Rounding a corner quickly, Izaya finally came to a stop some ways down the hallway, in front of a pair of large steel doors. Miaka, having been hard at her heels, actually slammed into Izaya from behind, causing the older girl to stumble inot the door itself. Not far behind Miaka, Tamahome physically threw himself to the ground to keep from hitting into Miaka.

" Are you okay, Tamahome?" instantly Miaka knelt down beside him. Placing a hand on her hip, Izaya shook her head, sighing as she turned to push open the doors in front of them.

" You two are really hopeless." she stated, flatly, taking Miaka by the arm and beginning to pull her into the room beyond it. Miaka struggled, but Izaya sniffed, saying. " Come on, now. Tamahome is a big boy, he can get up all by himself. Let's get into hiding already." Reluctant, Miaka followed Izaya's orders, glancing around the room as they entered it. The concern was quickly replaced by curiosity as she stepped further into the room, ahead of Izaya.

" Wow, it's dark." she commented, noting seeing Izaya roll her eyes as she moved to shut the door, leaving Tamahome outside of it. He was the one who noticed the smirk that pulled at Izaya's lips, but as he opened his mouth to say something, the door shut in front of him. In the meantime, Miaka had let out a shriek, latching onto Izaya as she stared at the dragon within the room. Frustrated, Izaya began to pry Miaka off of her body. " It is just a statue of a dragon, you don't have to scream."

" You're the one who's screaming!" Izaya snapped, finally managing to loosen Miaka's grasp on her enough to throw the other girl off of herself to the floor. Turning, Miaka blinked up at Izaya. At the moment the other girl was running a hand through her short hair turning away from Miaka and moving to stand beside the statue. " God, you're annoying! How people put up with the likes of you, I will never know." Smirking, Izaya reached out a hand, placing it on top of the head of the dragon statue, stroking the front of the sturdy creature's head as though it were the snout of a live horse. Humming in befuddlement, Miaka moved to pick herself up from the floor.

" Izaya, what are you-?" her voice cut off abruptly as she froze half way off the floor. Turning, Izaya watched as Miaka's body began to shake, her knees buckling, causing her to drop back down to the ground once again. Frowning, Izaya turned her head to the side, expression lost for a moment. Then, suddenly, she raised an index finger, turning to Miaka once more.

" Ah, that right! Did I forget to mention that this is the Seiryu Temple?" she inquired, sighing and shrugging her shoulders, nonchalant as she turned her attention back to the statue. " How could I be so dumb? I should've known that bringing the Priestess of Suzaku here would weaken her power, as well as make it impossible for her warriors to actually enter the room in the first place. My, what a fool I am!" Giggling, she reached out with her other hand, letting her fingers run along the the long, curled neck of the dragon statue's body, seeming to ignore Miaka for the time being. Unable to move, Miaka could only look up at Izaya, eyes wide.

" Is-this a joke?" she inquired slowly. Promptly, Izaya threw her head back and laughed. Finally turning to face Miaka completely, she sneered at the younger girl.

" Oh yes, this is most definitely a joke." was the response that she gave, striding over to where Miaka was slumped on the floor. Bending at the waist, Izaya was just barely above eye level with Miaka, both her hands on her hips. Stretching out a hand, she held out her index finger and poked it in the center of Miaka's forehead. " And the joke is most certainly on you, Mi-a-ka~!"

" What-?" as Miaka was about to speak on, however, Izaya laughed some more, rolling her eyes. Bending her knees, Izaya crouched in front of Miaka, finally at exact eye level with her. Both Izaya's wrists rested on her knees and she turned her head to the side, the angle of her next to her face askew in a way that appeared more then unnatural.

" You're not a very smart girl, are you?" she sniffed, shaking her head. One of her hands bent back, digging into the back of her jeans. " Figures. Just my fucking luck." It was then that she finally pulled out her knife, the blade of it flipping forwards and gleaming in the low light of the temple. Gawking, Miaka flinched as Izaya moved the blade forwards, placing it against the side of the younger girl's cheek. " Did you like my little act, Miaka? I make a pretty convincing older sister figure don't I?" Sneering, Izaya grinned all the wider, moving the knife from Miaka's throat and standing up to full height. Miaka stared, dumbstruck.

" So, you lied to me?" she exclaimed and Izaya clapped her hands, holding the knife with a pair of her fingers as she did so.

" Hey! You figured it out! Good for you!" Izaya insisted, turning and walking several paces away from Miaka. She shrugged her shoulders yet again. " A little late, though, since now you've got no way to get out of here alive, but I digress. Good job all the same." Nodding several times, she crossed her arms, knife still in hand. " Nakago!" From out of the shadows, the blond military man stepped out into the open.

" Yes, Lady Izaya?" he prompted as Izaya walked up to him, pouting and pointing her switchblade in his direction.

" Didn't I just tell you to just call me Izaya?" were the words that fell out of her mouth. Getting no answer to these words, she shut her eyes and shook her head. " I give up. In any case," folding the blade back against the handle with a distinct clicking sound, Izaya moved to stand beside Nakago, patting him on the back hard as she went on, " I believe I promised you a part in my game," waving towards Miaka, she added," please, feel free to play with her as you see fit. I'll gladly stand by and watch in the meantime." Then she took a step away until her back leaned against the wall, crossing her arms and propping one of her feet against the wall, smiling as Nakago made his way towards Miaka.~~~~~

Bum bum bum! There's the end. Little bit longer then the last chapter but definitely more exciting, right? Hope you enjoyed it! Next chapter will be on the way shortly. Until then, please read and review! REVIEW PLEASE! I appreciate feed back (please don't rip me limb from limb though! I beg of you!)


	3. Tiger

The exciting next chapter! Enjoy!~~~~~~

Izaya simply leaned back and watched as Nakago began tearing Miaka apart with his powers. She seemed to take an interest in what was going on. It wasn't every day that one got to see a soldier beat up on a junior high girl without physically touching her in any way shape or form. Her torso was leaned forwards and her neck stretched out to a small extent, even tilting to the side a bit to try and get a better look at Nakago's face all the while. As Miaka was thrown back for a second time, new wounds opening so that her blood splattered in scarlet spray across the floor of the temple, Izaya took notice of a mark on Nakago's forehead. She frowned slightly, standing up straight and taking a few steps forwards, to stand by Nakago. He turned his head in her direction just slightly, but as Izaya opened her mouth to say something, she was interrupted.

" Why are you doing this, Izaya?" Miaka exclaimed, drawing the attention of both Izaya and Nakago at the same time. Barely picking herself up off the ground, the younger girl glared up at Izaya, blood running down her cheek from a cut on her face. Blinking, Izaya gave her a blank stare, as though she couldn't quite figure out why Miaka would ask her such a question.

Turning to Nakago, Izaya commented. " She really isn't that smart, is she?" Nakago simply looked back at her, only turning his attention forwards when a bit of movement caught his eye. Slowly, struggling, Miaka picked herself up off the floor. She leaned forwards, pressing a blood smeared hand against another cut on her leg. Panting lightly, she continued to focus her attention solely on Izaya.

" I thought we understood each other," she insisted to the older girl, taking a step forwards, " don't you understand? These people are looking to start a war! A war!" Glaring, Nakago started to move towards Miaka. However, Izaya caught him by the arm, drawing his eyes back. Smiling, she giggled, patting the general's arm and taking the step forward herself. She placed a hand on her hip and held eyes with Miaka, waiting as the girl finished. " Don't you care what happens to the people of this world? Don't you want to go back to our world?" Snorting, Izaya let out a laugh. Pulling down on her eyelid, she stuck out her tongue.

" What the hell do I care about these people or their little war?" was her answer. Miaka's jaw dropped, her eyes wide, expression unmistakably aghast. " You said it yourself, I'm from another world." Shrugging her shoulders, she finished. " Whatever war and death that these people start is no business of mine. And another thing," holding up her index finger, she strode forwards, planting herself squarely in front of the Suzaku priestess, " don't pretend like you know me." Giving Miaka a hard shove, one that forced the younger girl to take a step back and brought a deep cringe to her face, Izaya held up the sheathed switchblade as she said. " Just because you're a homesick little child doesn't mean that I am too." she held up her middle finger." I don't give a damn if I ever go back to that fucking place. So you can take self righteous speech and shove it up your ass."

Straightening, Miaka steadied herself in front of Izaya. Bringing her hand back, she slapped the older girl hard across the face, enough to make Izaya stumble. Nakago tightened, eyes narrowing, forehead beginning to glow. Raising a hand, Izaya got his attention.

" It's alright." she said, running a hand across her cheek. A frown touched her face, but other then that she was unfazed. Facing forwards yet again, Izaya balled up her hand and punched Miaka in the gut. The smile returned to Izaya's face as Miaka gagged, collapsing to the floor once more. Straightening up, she loosened her fist, letting her hand hang at the wrist and waving it back and forth. " Next time think twice about who you slap, little girl." Then she spat and turned back around to face Nakago.

She smiled, pleasantly, finally tucking the switchblade in her hand into the back pocket opposite the Suzaku Shi Jin Tenchi Sho.

" Sorry, Nakago. I said it was your turn and ended up interrupting in the middle. Please," waving her hand, she made her way past him once more, back towards the wall, " continue where you left off. I promise I won't interrupt again." Watching her walk away, Nakago narrowed his eyes, gazing at her wearily as she went. Leaning her back against it, Izaya crossed her arms, running the back of her hand against the cheek that had been slapped. It was then that she noticed Nakago's gaze, giving a smile and a nonchalant wave at him.

Turning his attention forwards, the general continued his assault of the Priestess of Suzaku, Izaya simply sitting back and humming at tune as she watched. Letting her head rest against the wall, her eyes were half shut as she stood there, seeing Miaka get thrown into the air, hurdling towards the wall. When the younger girl didn't hit with the force that had apparently tossed her towards the wall to start with, Izaya stopped humming. Her gray eyes widened as another man appeared out of virtually no where in her eyes. He was a monk as far as Izaya could tell, though his face was clearly a mask.

" That was dangerous! She could have been killed!" he exclaimed, holding the bloodied form of the Suzaku priestess bridal style. Standing upright once more, Izaya took a step forwards, watching the newcomer, a renewed sparkle in her storm cloud colored eyes.

It wasn't long after that the monk's power had begun to tear the Temple of Seiryu to pieces. The floor around him completely shattered, sending bits of stone flying through the air. The glass windows broke apart parts, parts of these also becoming air born. Putting her arms up, Izaya did her best to protect herself against the debris. A large shard of glass caught her forearm, slicing it open, blood running down her fingers several seconds later.

" Stay behind me, Izaya-!" Nakago called to her, voice cutting off when Tamahome suddenly jumped at him. Sweeping past Nakago and Izaya, the Suzaku warrior went to join his priestess and other companion. Taking a quick glance at Nakago, Izaya saw the man clenching his side, biting back from a bit of pain. Seeing the three Suzaku followers conversing, Izaya took several steps closer to the Kuto general.

" Wait, Izaya-!" hearing her name said by Miaka, Izaya glanced over at the small group in time to see Tamahome holding out his hand towards her.

" Izaya! Come with us, quick!" he insisted catching the older girl's eyes. Before she could say anything at all in answer to these plees, Nakago had planted himself firmly in front of Izaya, glaring at Tamahome.

" Never!" the general snarled, using his power. The monk got in front of his two companions, holding out his hands stopping the blast.

" Chichiri. . ." words failed all of them as the mask fell away, revealing the true face of the monk. He was an older man, around Nakago's age maybe. What stood out the most, however, was the extensive scar that marred his handsome features. It consumed a good portion of his face, the entirety of his left eyes made up of nothing but scar tissue.

" Just go!" he called at his two dumbstruck companions. " I will follow you two later!" At that point, Miaka and Tamahome began making their escape through the monk's hat. As Tamahome took another glance over at Izaya, he opened his mouth to say something, but stopped. Standing on her tip toes, the older girl's head peaked out over the top of Nakago's shoulder armor. She stuck out her tongue, pulling down on her eyelid at the same time. It looked so absolutely absurd beside the serious, threatening expression on the general's face that as he made his escape through Chichiri's hat he was laughing.

The monk followed the two of them through the hat and as he disappeared, Nakago lurched forwards. Picking up the hat as it lay on the floor, Nakago simply blinked, seeing only the inside of the hat. A few seconds later Izaya crouched down beside him, looking into the hat as well. Nakago raised his eyes, meeting Izaya's for a second.

" Well that's not something you see every day, is it?" she said, easily, giving an easy smile and giggle, reaching out to take the hat herself.

" I have no excuse." the general stated, but Izaya gave a laughing, spinning the hat in a circle with her hands before placing it on her head.

" Nonsense," she retorted, running a finger along the brim of the monk's hat, " where's the fun in ending everything here and now? This makes things much more entertaining in the long run." Taking hold of the front of the hat, she flicked her hand, causing the hat to spin around and a circle on top of her head, a grin on her lips the entire time. Watching her, Nakago slowly stood up, closing the space between them. He laid out his hand, palm facing upward.

" Did you enjoy you're little game?" he prompted her and Izaya laughed, nodding her head as she dug her hand into her back pocket. Pulling out the Suzaku copy of Shi Jin Tenchi, she pressed it into his hand.

" Very much," she insisted, taking the hat off of her head and offering it to Nakago as well, " though I might have liked it better if those two bird brains had actually understood me in the end." Shaking her head, she shrugged her shoulders, sighing dismally. " As amusing as it is for them to think that I would actually leave with them, seeing their faces when they realize that I don't like either of them in the least would've been much more interesting. I'll have to settle with what I got, I suppose." As Nakago tucked away the Shi Jin Tenchi, the two of them began making their way out of the cracking temple, heading for the empty space in the wall where the doors had once been.

" How's your arm?" the general inquired, Izaya turning a blank stare at him for a moment.

" Compared to how beat up I was when you picked me up three months ago," she said, holding up her still freely bleeding arm, " this is nothing. A little water and some bandages I'll be good as new."~~

Because of the earlier interruption caused by the Priestess of Suzaku, the Emperor had arranged to have dinner with him that evening. Nakago would be attending, acting as a body guard of sorts to the both of them as they sat together. Izaya seemed less then excited about it when she realized that it would only be herself and the Emperor eating together.

" Where's the fun in eating with an old man like him?" she sniffed after getting her answer from Nakago on their way to the hall to eat. " I'm a forth his age and at the complete opposite end of the social standard. There's going to be no common topic for conversation." She gave herself a shake, glancing back over her shoulder, as though she were considering running back to the military barracks to eat her usual meal with Nakago's soldiers as she did every other day before that evening. Frowning, Nakago glared at her, in such a way that she shrank under it, taking a step away from him. Scratching the back of her head, she gave a dismal sigh and muttered. " This is going to be a fucking disaster. . ."

The general couldn't have agreed with her more.

Still, he led her to the meal, as were his orders. It started off rather dull, simple introductions being done all over again because it was actually the first time the two had gotten to talk to one another. She'd been given a place at the exact opposite end of the table to that of the Emperor, food stacked high on plates that occupied the entirety of the space between the two of them. Having been told to seat Izaya like a proper gentleman would, Nakago noticed on the way to the place that would be her's for the meal that the girl's face had brightened since finding out she would be so far away from the leader of Kuto. Pulling out her chair for her, just as she was sitting down, Nakago jerked the chair back. It was a small switch, one that the Emperor didn't notice from the opposite side of the table. Izaya recognized it immediately, glancing up into Nakago's glaring, deathly serious face. Seeing it, the smile on her own face fell slightly for a second. Then, it renewed itself, the glow in her face having dimmed, however. Reaching out, she patted Nakago's arm as he pushed her chair into its proper place in front of the table.

" Thank you." she said, warm, before facing forwards and gazing up at the Emperor across the way. Striding a few paces, Nakago took up a place standing right in the middle of the long table, simply watching as the servants tended to the Emperor and his young guest and the two of them began to talk.

It started off very well; better then anyone would've thought. Izaya actually managed to hold back vulgar remarks, jokes, and avoid using sarcasm the vast majority of the time. The few times she slipped up, Nakago glared at her from the corner of his eyes, though the Emperor seemed to miss the intended slur of these comments as she spoke them. In fact, the older man seemed to take a particular interest in Izaya, constantly questioning her about this or that, whether about her world or who she was enjoying her stay in Kuto.

Still, he eventually managed to get to the subject that he had invited her to dinner about from the very beginning.

" Has Nakago told you about what the country is preparing in the coming time?" he inquired carefully, watching Izaya carefully from across the way. He wasn't close enough to hear the small sneer that fell out of Izaya's mouth, though he did see the upward twist of her lip. Raising her head to gaze at the Emperor, she shook her head.

" There's no need to beat around the bush, Majesty," she insisted, easily lifting a bit of rice from her plate with her chopsticks, shutting her eyes, " I'm well aware that Kuto is preparing for war; Nakago has given me all the necessary information that I need." With that being said, she placed the rice into her mouth, chewing at it without once opening her eyes. The Emperor waited for a time, but when Izaya continued with a second bite once she'd finished the first, it became apparent enough that she was not going to say anything further and he spoke up himself.

" So, will you be our priestess?" his tone was level, though there was a tension in it that gave away the earnestness of the plea. Nakago watched as the young girl's face twisted into a small frown. Her eyes didn't once move off of the dish in front of herself; she seemed almost wholly interesting in the foods that lay on her plate. Holding her chopsticks aloft,she began twirling one of them, the other resting easily against the palm of the same hand.

" You know, in my world we have a very long history." she informed the Emperor, voice disinterested as she rested her chin in her free hand, gazing off at the wall rather then at any of the people before herself. In particular she seemed to be avoiding the Emperor's gaze, but kept speaking in a way that could only be meant for the elderly man. " Usually we start with the Roman Empire. It started as just a small city actually; Rome. Gradually, it spread, first taking over the country, then conquering its neighbors, one after another after another. At one point, the Roman's had control of almost the entire known world." Her words, though said as nonchalantly as possible, had the Emperor on the edge of his seat. Head angled forwards while the rest of his body was leaned towards Izaya at the far end of the table, the Kuto leader hung on every word that slipped past her wan lips. She seemed content in ignoring him.

" It's size became it's undoing. Despite all its military power, the Roman's had spread themselves thin by expanding like that. So, eventually, they were overthrown by a handful of unorganized Germanic tribes." Upon hearing this, the Emperor frowned, sitting back in his seat once more. It was at that time that the chopstick that she'd been twirling for her entire speech was stopped in its place between her index and middle finger. " It happened countless times. People trying to take over the entire world through war. During World War II, the German leader, Adolf Hitler, had an entire plan. How he would take over all of Europe and Russia before making his way across the sea and taking on the Americas as a whole. Nations looked to colonize others to prove their military power and wealth over one another the way a pack of hyenas does." She shook her head, shrugging her shoulders. Slowly, she lowered the chopstick that had once been spinning, placing it beside its brother that had been resting against her thumb, ring and pinky finger the entire time. Her eyes focused in on her plate once again " And every time it ended in utter failure. The Allied powers freed Europe and Hitler committed suicide. Colonies freed themselves from the nations that had over ran them for so long. And this little campaign of yours will end the same way." These final words hung awkwardly in the air after Izaya said them. The Emperor's jaw had dropped, remaining ajar as he either struggled to answer her words or simply waited for her to continue speaking. From his place by the wall, Nakago's mouth twitched and he seemed to be forcing his facial features to remain even. Clicking her chopsticks together, Izaya went back to eating her meal with a renewed vigor.

" J-Just what is it that you're suggesting, Lady Izaya?" he inquired with a stutter. Lifting the plate with one hand, Izaya began gulping down one bite after another in a more then unlady-like fashion. When she finally placed the plate back on the table she sat chewing with puffed up cheeks, a noddle dangling down and dabbing sauce against her chin. After a few seconds of this and then a swallow, she slurped up the last bit of noodle and chewed, eyes back on the walls a small frown on her lips as she narrowed her eyes, glaring. When she spoke next, there was a general bluntness, matter-of-factness to her tone that would have been difficult to miss.

" History has shown that attempting to take over the entire world is a fruitless effort; it's a waste of precious time and lives that could be put to far better use in other areas of life." Turning, she faced the Emperor, gray eyes dull, half shut as she went on. " You want me to become the Priestess of Seiryu just so that I can wish to seal Suzaku, thus make it easier for you to take over Konan. You're looking to expand your power so that you can take it a step further and take over the higher military nations to the North and East of your country." she paused then, raising a thin brow, as though daring the Emporer to tell her that she was wrong.

" I won't waste my time on something that I already know won't work." This line of conversation made it obvious that she was going to refuse to become the Priestess of Seiryu.

However, a smirk pulled its way across Izaya's lips, and she leaned back in her chair. " How about this?" she prompted, suddenly, raising her index finger to point at the Emperor. " I'll be your little Priestess," the Emperor's face broke to a smile, but Izaya turned her index finger so that it faced upward, " on one condition." He frowned, raising his brows. The smirk on Izaya lips never feel. Glancing at Nakago, her smirk widened and she waved her entire hand towards the blond general that stood by watching them eat and talk that entire time.

Blank face, the Emperor looked at Izaya, the girl rolling her eyes before elaborating. " Him. I want Nakago." Another stunned silence fell over the room. Nakago held his position, though his icy blue eyes had narrowed and where focused in on the young girl seated at the far end of the table. She didn't seem to notice his glaring, her own eyes locked onto the Emperor and the Emperor alone. The man couldn't have looked more unnerved if had tried.

" Nakago?" he echoed it back at her, a lack of comprehension still in his tone. With a huff, Izaya shook her, rolling her eyes yet again as she sat forwards, placing an elbow against the table.

" I want him," she repeated, firmly, pointing a chopstick at the Emperor, " all of him. I want you to release him to me." It was then that the Emperor seemed to be understanding what she was saying. The Emperor sent a side long glance at the captain of his military force, his pinky finger finding its way between his teeth as he sat, thinking. Then he took a peek at Izaya. She was dead confident in what she was doing at this point; as though she had just found the check mate call on a chess board. It was unmistakable, written in the wide smirk and steady eye contact.

" Alright," he finally agreed, giving a smirk of his on at the girl that had come from another world, " I think I can allow that. So long as he can still act as captain of the army?" Izaya scoffed, waving her hand dismissively at the suggestion.

" Of course, of course, " she answered, " after all, it's rather hard to instigate a war without the proper general, neh?" this prompted some laughter between them and the Emperor nodded his head. Then he raised a glass and nodded his head towards Izaya.

" To the Priestess of Seiryu, Lady Izaya!" he declared with a booming voice. Grimacing for a second, Izaya's smile grew dismal, dulled as she raised her glass in return. Her hand motions where sluggish as the two mimed glass contact from across the table and each took a drink.~~

As she left, Izaya was accompanied by Nakago. She hummed, seeming to be very cheerful when she had finally gotten away from the Emperor.

" You are a pretentious little brat." he growled at her once they were beyond the ears of anyone, including his own soldiers. Blinking, she turned her head up, tilting her head to the side, her arms swinging amiably at her sides.

" That's not very nice," she retorted, though her tone and facial expression showed she had taken no insult from his words, " now why would you say something like that?" Turning abruptly to face her, Nakago grabbed her by the chin and forced her back against the wall. His bright blue eyes narrowed to a glare. Izaya held it, somehow, her facial expression forced to remain steady, there for a second, her upward turned lips had twisted downward instead.

" Do you think you have the kind of power to bend me to your will?" his tone was low, deep, holding all the forbidding air. He saw her shiver for a short time, though Izaya's verbal answer came very quickly.

" Of course not." she stated, flatly. Nakago frowned slightly more, the angles of his brows becoming less steep, though slightly more twisted. The girl in his grasp held his eyes, unyielding, the smile on her face tight as she lifted her hands and placed them over top of his. She patted them gazing down at his fingers that were tightly rolled within the clothe of her shirt. The gesture seemed almost fond, enduring as though she thought this threatening aura where something she admired or at least respected to some degree.

Some time passed before Nakago finally set her down, and Izaya smoothed her shirt back into place in an easy, mechanical motion. They started walking again, and Izaya was the one that broke the silence.

" Neh, neh, Nakago? I really like tigers." Nakago just stared blankly at her for these words. " It always pisses me off to see those rich bastards cage up such a beautiful animal. Tiger's are so raw, so terrifyingly powerful that it makes them gorgeous beyond words." Turning, she sent a smile over at Nakago, who gave her a glare. Reaching out, she patted him on the shoulder. " I've always wanted to set one free and see it turn on those that thought they could control such a power. It would turn on me too, of course," she nodded her head at herself, as though there could be no question about it, " but unlike those cocky bastards that locked it up to begin with, I wouldn't pretend to believe that I could control such a thing. If it so desired, that tiger could devour me, and I wouldn't have a single complaint about it." Then, without another comment about it, Izaya skips ahead of Nakago down the hallway, humming contentedly as she went, heading in the direction of the room that had been given to her.~~~~~~

This chapter is done kids! Read and review! Please don't kill me! ( I don't have much to say today ^^;;; )


	4. Clever

Another chapter: bit shorter then the last ones. ^^;; Opps.~~~~~

" I'm bored." Izaya whinned. Sitting at his desk, Nakago stiffened, stifling a sigh at the same time. He spent an idle glance over at his unwelcome guest. The priestess of Seiryu had made her way into his office with a book some few hours ago, saying she wanted to read there. He'd agreed to having her stay, since it was better then letting her run around like a petulant child, but that didn't make her any less annoying to deal with.

" I told you when you came that if you wanted to stay here, you had to be quiet." Nakago spoke through grinding teeth, working furiously at his paperwork. She turned a scowl at him, letting the book in both of her hands lay against her chest.

" I know," chiding, she arched her neck to send a glare up at him around the side of the desktop from her place on the floor, " don't be cranky; I'm not the one that put off doing paper work until the last minute." Nakago snorted, not once looking over at her, gaze focused on the pages he'd set out in front of himself.

" I'm only behind because of you." he sniffed, signing off on one page before pushing it to the side and focusing his eyes in on another.

" Neh, neh! Blaming me will get you no where!" she insisted, wagging her index finger side to side before laughed, not seeing the glare that Nakago sent down at the page which was intended for her.

It had been some time since the priestess of Suzaku attempted to "rescue" Izaya. In that time, Izaya had become increasing popular among palace residents. Not that she seemed to take much notice of it; since taking up the position of priestess of Seiryu, Izaya had been keeping her nose stuck in books. Her regular pattern up until that point had been completely disrupted, the morning hours being used for sleep since Izaya had begun to spend nights reading by candle light. The first meal of her day became lunch, and she would take her third and final meal from the cooks several hours prior and eat it during the night hours while reading. When Nakago found her sleeping, nine times out of ten she was using the open book or scroll as a pillow. This might not have been so much of a problem if not for the fact that Izaya forgot to, or rather never got around to, blowing out candles. There were several small incidents where either her hair, clothes, or the books and scrolls she was looking at were about to be set on fire. Needless to say the small number of her new caretakers were rather alarmed and concerned for her well being.

What was perhaps slightly more unsettling in Nakago's eyes was the Emperor's utter fasination with her. He was constantly asking about her or asking to see her. The reason for his interest in her seemed beyond comprehension; Izaya bladently disregarded the majority of the Emperor's requests for an audience. The few times that Nakago forced her to meet with the Emperor, Izaya not only made openly snide, vulgar remarks, but she often outright ignored the older man completely. If she was at a meal, she would speak to servers, but if it was a simple meeting or walk with the Emperor, she would find someone, anyone else to talk to. Gardeners, scholars, advisers to the Emperor, it didn't matter. Izaya would wave and smile, extending a hand of greeting to any of them and physically turn herself away from the Emperor.

It made no difference what Nakago said to her about the subject. One day she had even been bold enough to tell him outright:

" I will not pretend to like that man for the sake of political appearance."

Following these words she had promptly spun on her heels and walked away, pulling the thread of a scroll free and yanking it open to read as she went.

Needless to say, Nakago had been less then pleased with this response.

" Neh, neh, Nakago?" her voice interrupted his work yet again, grating on the general's nerves more then fingernails on a chalkboard. " I was thinking-"

" Lady Izaya-"

" NEH NEH, NAKAGO," she raised her voice level over his, sitting up and glaring at him for a second before going on, " we should do something get that one feather head back here." Having been glaring back at Izaya while she was speaking, by the time she finished, Nakago raised a brow.

" 'Feather head'?" he prompted, curtly. Izaya smiled, nodding in return.

" Yeah," she said, waving her hand in a nonchalant fashion as she added, " you know, the one that showed up with that bird brained priestess. The one that nicked you." then, she patted the side of her body, elaborating on the event to indicate what she meant. The general gazed at her, silent for a few moments, his expression so unreadable that the Izaya frowned at him, adding. " Suzaku is a bird, isn't it? Or was Byakko the bird? No." she corrected herself, lowering her head, frown directed more towards herself. Running a hand through her short black hair, she brows arched downward as she placed a finger to her lower lip.

" You've- been reading up on the legends of this world?" the general inquired, and Izaya glanced back up at him.

" Neh?" the question was met with silence until she finally went on. " Yeah, I've read up on the legends here. That and a lot of other things as well; I'm half way through Kuto's history right now." reaching out she patted the book that lay open against her stomach. Waving her hand again, she caught his eyes with her own as she persisted. " Suzaku is the bird, right? Right?" Frowning deeper, Nakago gave a nod at her, seeing Izaya's face light up right afterwards. " Then those were feather heads and that priestess that showed up was a bird brain."

After that, she seemed to assert her words to herself by nodding twice before allowing herself to drop back against the floor yet again. Swinging her legs over the seat of the chair that sat opposite of the general, her legs kicked at the open air back and forth, as though she were trying to swim in it. Nakago wrinkled his nose and turned his attention back down to his work.

That was, until Izaya turned her eyes back onto him.

" Well, what do you think?"

" Of?" this response earned him a scowl from Izaya.

" Bringing that feather headed guy that clipped you here to play with." she insisted, pouting. Seeing the general roll his eyes, Izaya pushed herself up onto her elbows, quickly going on. " It's not as though I'm asking you to take care of him personally, Nakago. He'd just be taking up a little space. Like an awkward house guest." Stifling a sigh, Nakago rubbed his temple, tender, keeping his head down and his eyes on the page in front of himself. He could feel Izaya's eyes burrowing into the side of his face, feeling her peel away the skin to dig at his flesh of his cheek with those stone steady gray irises. Giving a heavy sigh herself, Izaya finally flopped back down onto the floor. Grabbing the edges of the book, she held it up in front of her face.

There was a short pause, one where the two were silent once again. It wasn't long after that Nakago chanced a quick glance down at her from over the side of his desk. He couldn't see her face, not that he really needed to see it to know what sort of expression she wore. There was no doubt that there was a deep frown on her lips, narrowed eyes moving along each line of the book in a swift action. Her brows were most definitely furrowed, and her entire attention focused on the soul task of reading. . .

" I can bring him here," Nakago said these words casually, as though commenting on the weather, " if that is what you wish Lady Izaya?" Dropping the book onto her stomach again, Izaya was up on her elbows yet again, gazing wide eyed up at the general. He didn't look up, didn't seek her gaze in even the smallest way. She was looking at him intently though; those shove eyes were digging at his flesh once again, he could feel it. Holding his brush aloft, Nakago raised his head only slightly, meeting her eyes. After a short staring contest, one of his brows lifted up as his mouth twisted into a smirk.

Izaya giggled then, letting her torso fall to the floor once more as she began to laugh all the harder. Her legs kicked at the air, the tips of her toes appearing exactly opposite of the desk that Nakago sat at. Sliding the book off of herself, Izaya pushed the chair her legs had once rested on further away from herself, allowing her enough space to turn over onto her stomach. Shimmying a short distance, she planted her elbows on the floor and her chin in both her hands grinning up at the general.

" A clever one aren't you, Gen-er-al~?" she giggled on, gazing at him intently for a time. He held her eyes for a few seconds longer before returning his attention to his work. Izaya didn't say anything, just grinned at him for a moment longer. Then, she twisted around, grabbing her book and planting it in front of where she lay, reading with that smile plastered across her face.~~

It took a bit of time and persuasion for Nakago to bring in the Suzaku warrior that Izaya had requested of him. She never failed to ask him about it once each day. Izaya never asked him more then once, either: always exactly one time and the rest of the day was her usual babbling around her new habitual reading and eating patterns.

When finally the day before Tamahome would be brought to the Kuto palace came, the day started out in its usual way. Nakago was performing his regular inspections of the officers around the palace grounds. As he was finishing up the last of his inspection beside the gardens within the palace walls, Nakago caught sight of something out of place among the throngs of bushes and trees. Blinking, Nakago stopped where he was. Gazing out across the garden, he frowned, not quite sure if what he was seeing at the time was true or not.

Glancing around for a second, he headed across the garden, eyes focused in on the sleeping girl. Izaya lay in the grass under one of the trees, her torso slowly rising and falling in a steady pattern. She was curled up on her right side, both of her hands a few inches from her nose, side by side on the ground. Her short black hair clung to her head, the tips of it shaking hands with the tops of the blades of grass around her head. Nakago noted at that time that there was a collection of silver rings and bands attached to her ears, lining the entire outer curve of it. Her thin white shirt hung, limp and worn, against her body, the sleeve of it crumpled in such a way that the dragon tattoo on her shoulder glared up at him. The bottom of her shirt had wrinkled in a similar fashion around her hip, her low riding black pants doing all the more to tease the eyes and imaginations of any immature man within the palace.

She almost looked worth the time if not for the fact that the hilt of a dagger sticking out from the back of her pants.

Scowling, Nakago bent down and nudged her shoulder, pulling her conscious back to the present. Opening her eyes, she blinked slowly, lazily. Her eyes didn't seem to register exactly whom she was looking at at the time, and she yawned widely, groaning and rolling over. Shoulders tightening, Nakago set his jaw in place and continued to push her around, preventing her from getting the sleep she seemed so desperate to cling to.

Finally, after much annoyed moaning and her small hand swatting the general's far larger one to the side Izaya finally began to push herself up off the ground. Rubbing her eyes, the light finally seemed to return to them and her pupils seemed to shrink while the whites grew greater in size when she realized that Nakago was standing over her.

" Neh, Nakago." she greeted once she'd regained her composure to some degree, pushing herself up onto her butt. A smile passed her face, her hands attempting to knock what grass that clung to her grayed t-shirt as she added. " Good morning." The side of her body that had been laying against the ground was lined with indentations of where the grass had been if it didn't still have grass clinging to it at the time.

" If you're tired, Lady Izaya," Nakago began, voice holding its typical coolness, " there's a room set aside for you in the palace." Grinning, Izaya hummed and nodded her head, lifting up her other hand and rubbing her other eye.

" Yeah, yeah, I know," she agreed and watching her, Nakago raised a brow, " it's too nice of a day to be cooped up inside. Besides," twisting around, she threw herself to the ground once again, letting her legs flail around in the air for a second, " the grass out here is very comfortable. I wouldn't have been able to fall asleep if it wasn't, neh?" Nakago was silent and Izaya took it with a giggle. Slowly, she began getting to her feet, Nakago straightening up as she did so.

Dusting away the last of the grass that clung to her clothes, Izaya looked into Nakago's face and went on. " So, everything is progressing smoothly, I assume? With Tamahome and the fail-safe that you refuse to tell me about?" The general opened his mouth to answer, then closed it, realizing something.

" How did you-?" he stuttered, but Izaya simply laughed, patting him on the arm. When she touched him, Nakago drew his arm away, as though touching her could only mean death for him. Scowling, Izaya crossed her arms, shaking her head.

" Come on now, Nakago, it's not that hard of a thing to think of." she sniffed, giving a wave of her hand. " Since preventing Suzaku from being summoned is our objective right now, it would only stand to reason that we can sit here, not searching for our own Seiryu warriors," shrugging her shoulders, she spoke nonchalantly as she went on, " obviously you've got something in mind. Aside from the Tamahome thing," she wrinkled her nose briefly, " since that was my idea that I brought up a few days ago. Since you were calm for all those days in between, there's got to be something behind it, though what that could be, I have no idea." After these words there was a short silence, one where Nakago was either too shocked or too proud to say something to her. A grin spread wide across her face.

" You'll learn not to count me as any old fool." she insisted, turning her back to him, rocking up on her toes then back on her heels, head held high. It was looking at a child, one that was entirely proud of herself. Except she was much larger in size, giving these motions an almost awkward appearance.

When finally he did respond to her, it he simply nodded, beginning to walk back over to the palace hallway. Izaya turning quickly and followed at his side smiling and humming, thoughtfully.

" Neh, neh, I wonder what I should do to entertain him while he's here?" she mused aloud, placing a finger to her chin and pouting. Her eyes looked upward at the ceiling of the hallway as she seemed to think about this idea seriously.

" You don't need to do a thing." Nakago stated, bland. Turning, face puffed up, Izaya crossed her arms.

" The hell I don't need to do anything." she replied, scoffing. " It's common courtesy to entertain someone you invite as a guest, and I happen to be the hostess of this little event." Placing a hand on her chest, she spoke in a huff. " It's my duty to make sure that he receives the utmost of care and amusement during his stay here and I'll do my job to its fullest." She then raised a fist to the sky and let out a short cry of determination. Then she replaced her finger on her chin. " Now all I need to do is decide what to do. A game maybe? No," she shook her head at herself, " a show. Definately has to be a show." Nodding her head firmly this time, Nakago watched and she perked up, looking almost excited.

" Just what sort of show are you planning to amuse him with?" he inquired, raising his brow at her. Grinning, the tip of her tongue stuck out and ran across her lips as she gazed intently at him with those storm cloud eyes.

" I'm- not- telling!" she said, lifting her index finger and placing it against Nakago's mouth. Nakago's expression dropped and he glared at her, earning himself a laugh from the girl. She skipped ahead of him down the hall and spun around, walking backwards as she talked to him. " Don't worry; I'll make sure not to interfere with your fun. " Turning around to face forwards, she spoke over her shoulder as she added. " I'm just going to have a little fun of my own while he's here. You don't always get the opportunity to fuck with the enemy in situations like this, neh, Nakago?" Then, swinging her arms, she skipped away, humming a tune as she went.~~~~~~

lol, and nothing really happened this chapter either. . .*avoids tomatoes and pointy objects* Please don't kill me! Read and Review!


	5. Talk

So its been awhile since I last posted a chapter. ^^;;; ( I had some serious trouble writing some of this and walked away for a little bit) Because of my lack there of posting, I'm making this a two for one deal! Once I've posted this, I plan on finishing what I've got for the next chapter and posting it hopefully within the next few hours. Look forward to it!

And now, on with the chapter!

Tamahome sat with his legs and arms crossed. He sat waiting for whatever welcome party would be coming to meet him within the Kuto Palace. His brows arched deeper and he ground his teeth just thinking about how he had been pulled away from Miaka the night before. Ambushed by one of the many assassins sent out by Kuto, the threat to his family and the village people along the Kuto boarder was too great, forcing the hand of the Suzaku warrior.  
The danger was to great to risk staying away from Kuto; no matter how reluctant or protested his leaving had been.

Still, his blood boiled at the thought of it. Threatening the lives of innocent people, people that couldn't present a threat to the bandits that dotted the Konan mountains let alone that of the entire army of their neighboring nation, seemed like a low blow no matter what angle he turned it on. His disgust with Seiryu's country could only be compared with his determination to get back to Miaka and the others once the rest of the Suzaku warriors had been gathered.

Noticing Nakago as the general entered the room, there was no doubt in Tamahome's mind that he would get back to Konan and to the others when the the time came to summon Suzaku.

" Welcome, Tamahome, first of the seven stars of Suzaku." the older man stood, a hand resting against his waist, right above his sword as he spoke. A smirk colored his facial features, moving with all of the tall, commanding aura that he had the first time that Tamahome had come into contact with him. " I am a star as well, though I am a star of Seiryu."

" You piece of. . ." Tamahome's mouth couldn't articulate the anger that flooded over his senses, his mind coming up with multiple ugly words to use. None of them seemed a strong enough one, leading to a pause before he managed to snap out. " Was it you that planned all of this? What do you want from me?" These words didn't earn the Suzaku warrior much of anything from his Seiryu counterpart. The smirk on Nakago's face broadened slightly, though something about the tightness of his muscles seemed out of place on his features. Looking away from Tamahome, the general's crystal blue eyes rested on the far wall, outside the window the the tree that left long shadows over the sill.

" I don't want anything from you," he retorted, even toned, putting extra emphasis on the first word, " though," the tension on his face had eased, giving the smirk on his lips their original leisure as he strode closer, jerking Tamahome's chin upward so that their eyes were linked, " I do like you. You are the first person to have been able to hit me like that." Tamahome held those eyes steadily, a fire burning in his gray eyes as the corner of his own lip turned upward just slightly.

" Really?" he prompted as though at ease with everything that was happening to and around him. " Then you must've only met losers before." Izaya stood in the door frame and watched as Nakago struck Tamahome across the face after these words. Leaning, she gave a smirk of her own, snickering loud enough to make her presence known to those within the room. Nakago turned and Tamahome raised his head, his expression lost, blinking as he gazed childishly in the Seiryu priestess' direction. Meeting Nakago's eyes, Izaya smiled broadly, crossing her arms and raising her brows.

" Enjoying yourself?" she inquired. As the military general straightened to full height, Izaya did the same and swaggered across the room. Her arms dropped to her sides as she stood beside Nakago, gazing up at him intently and he returned it with one of his own. Frowning, Tamahome sat watching as the older girl held the gaze of the general for what seemed like far too long. Then, after what felt like hours, she patted his arm and took a step in front of him. " If you're quite finished with your fun, I'd like to spend a little time with Tamahome," glancing over her shoulder at the two assassins that were still standing at the far side of the room before catching Nakago's blue eyes and finishing, " alone." For a second, Nakago stood there, watching her, studying her body language and her facial expression. Again, Tamahome felt the action was prolonged, extending for minutes that should have been highly uncomfortable. If it bothered either party it didn't show; Nakago gave a short bow of his head once he'd finished his staring contest with Izaya.

" Yes, Priestess." with those short words, he turned, his cape whirling behind him like a royal blue cloud, and left, the two assassins at his heels. The two watched him go until his footsteps had completely faded away. Smiling at the empty door way, Izaya turned to Tamahome at that point and offered him a hand. The Suzaku warrior narrowed his eyes, glaring at her. She chuckled when he didn't reach for her hand right away.

" I'm not going to hurt you. Despite popular belief, I actually dislike violence." she said to him, moving her hand a little closer, to show her insistence on the friendly gesture. Still gazing at her with a certain degree of distrust prickling at his stomach, Tamahome reluctantly took her hand. His arm received a swift jerk, pulling him somewhat gruffly to his feet. Once he'd gotten his balance, Izaya had released his hand, popping her hip to the side and giggling again. " There; not such a little bitch now, am I?" she prompted him, raising her brows.

When he began to open his mouth to respond, Izaya turned around, giving a nonchalant wave before placing her hand against her swiveling hip. "Come on. I'll show you where you'll be staying while your here." Glancing over her shoulder, she noted that he hadn't moved from where he'd stood in the middle of the room. " You didn't think you were staying in this room, did you?" spreading her arms out wide, she raised a brow at him. " This room is completely empty; no furniture or anything. Come on now!" she smiled, slipping out of the room without making certain that he was following after. Tamahome had to scramble to catch up with her.

" Hey! Wait!" his voice reached her ears coupled with the sound of his bounding footsteps. " I'm coming! I'm coming!" When he came up beside her, Izaya glanced over at him, a pleasant smile plastered across her lips.

" Nice of you to join me." she replied, her chipper tone unnerving the Suzaku warrior slightly. Tamahome settled his step to match her shorter stride lengths.

As they moved side by side, he gazed down at her, silent. He couldn't help noticing her skinny framework. Coming from a poor family, the Suzaku warrior knew what starvation looked like, and recognized its signs from the people that had neither home nor family to care for or about. Izaya had the bony figure of one, though the signs were small, putting her at just under proper body weight.

Yet, as a warrior, Tamahome knew a fighter when he saw one. He knew their eyes and the small twitches and quirks that came from protecting ones self from the threat of others. The first time the Suzaku warrior had encountered her, he'd be distracted; taking care of Miaka and flustered by Izaya's words when she'd found them kissing upon her return with the Shi Jin Tenchi Sho during the failed rescue attempt by Miaka. Seeing the way she moved and actually watching her glide down the hallways beside him made it very clear to Tamahome that she was no ordinary girl. If someone came at her swinging, Tamahome had a feeling she wouldn't hesitate to swing back even harder. Though, the knife stuffed in the back of her jeans was a dead give away.

" Careful there, Tama-chan," she said, drawing his attention onto her face, which sported a small smirk and eyes looking at him from their corners, " stare for much longer and someone might think that you're checking me out." Stiffening instantly, Tamahome looked away. Izaya threw her head back and laughed, shaking her head. " I don't mind; stare all you like." She winked at him, a blush creeping across Tamahome's cheeks. Pressing a hand against her chin, the smile on her face broadened as she thought aloud. " Forbidden love between enemies can be kind of edgy. At least in some cases." Her choice of words had Tamahome's instant attention.

" Then you're-?"

" The Priestess of Seiryu?" she finished for him, grinning all the wider when she saw the Suzaku warrior's face flush deepened and his mouth tighten. She was stringing him along like a puppy on a leash. Dangling bits of information in front of him and waiting for him to bite. Giggling she nodded her head as she answered. " I am." scowling, she crossed her arms. " Why? Does that bother you?" his expression was blank, befuddled.

They turned a corner and then Izaya pushed open one of the doors of one of the rooms. She made a wide gesture around the room as she strode in.

" Here we are!" she declared, spinning around to face the Suzaku warrior once again. Frowning, Tamahome hesitated at the door frame. Rolling her eyes, Izaya's shoulders slumped, a heavy sigh exiting her mouth as she crossed back over to where he was and grabbed him by the wrists. " You're certainly expecting the worst, aren't you? Relax," she insisted, pulling him inside, " even if I can't guarantee this for everyone else in the palace, I can assure you that I won't do anything to physically hurt you." Stumbling along as she led him, Tamahome was thrown onto the bed that would be his, apparently, for his time within the Kuto Emperor's Palace. Shaking her head at him, Izaya sighed a second time. Heading across the room she pulled one of the chairs placed around the table where Tamahome would be eating his meals and placed it opposite of where the Suzaku was sitting on the bed. Frowning, he crossed his legs and arms, pouting, his shoulders scrunched up so that as a whole he looked like an irritated young child.

" 'Physically'?" he echoed her the priestess humming affirmation in return.

" I don't guarantee that I won't give a verbal lashing or a mental assault at some point or other." she waved her hand, dismissively. " We all have those days, you know. Not that I think you would in these circumstances, I would still appreciate it if you didn't, you know, try to kill me anytime I come to visit either?" running her hand through the short strands of her black head, she scratched the back of her neck. Tamahome raised his head slightly, observing her for a few seconds before giving any sort of responce.

" If I say yes will you leave your knife behind anytime you come visit me?" he prompted her. Smiling a little more broadly at him, she shook her head slowly, giggling softly.

" You might as well ask me to walk in here naked," she replied, once again drawing the blush onto Tamahome's face, " or without one of my hands. I sleep with this thing under my pillow." Digging into the back of her jeans, she pulled out the blade, still sheathed and held it up. " Sorry to say, but this stays with me no matter the circumstances." Flipping it open and then closed, Izaya shoved the knife back into her jeans. Watching her, Tamahome tilted his head to the side.

After sniffing, indifferent, he said. " Carrying around something like that everywhere, you must be paranoid." Izaya threw her head back and laughed.

" Very!" she insisted, bringing her legs up and crossing them on the seat of the chair. Placing her hands down on her lap, her gray eyes focused in on the Suzaku warrior, a sparkle in their stone wall stare as she went on. " I'd have thought someone like you would understand that better then anyone; from what I hear you come from the poorer side of life, neh?" Tamahome blinked, his blank expression riddled with the lines of befuddlement. The priestess of Seiryu watched him, narrowing her eyes for a second. Her attention to him set the Suzaku warrior's skin prickling. It felt almost as though she were staring straight through him. As though his skin, muscle, and bone had all become tranparent, leaving nothing to hide his soul from those cold, leering stones.

Still, he faced her head on, nodding in answer of her question. There was a small, inward twist of her brow as she smiled at him then. Leaning back against the chair, she gave a little sigh, speaking casually.

" Well, then we have something in common already, Tama-chan." For a few seconds, he gave her a long stare, observing her as though he were only seeing her for the first time at just that moment.

" I thought so." he commented, voice soft. " I'm sorry to hear that." His heart going out to her despite everything that had happened. The life of a poor person was a difficult one, intermingled with hard choices and constant fear of what tomorrow would bring. Often it was like fighting the very world itself. Putting her feet back down on the floor, she let one of her arms fall over the back of her chair. Her other hand gave a dismissive wave in his direction.

" Neh! We're one of many; doesn't matter what world you're in." the smile on her face was an honest, happy thing, her eyes focusing up on the ceiling for a time. " All of that has made me who I am today, and I am a perfectly proud of the person I am today. So I'm not complaining." Her head came back to level, facing Tamahome once more. He smiled back at her. " Albeit a little paranoid and less then scholarly." They both laughed, the Suzaku warrior nodding his head and pointing at her. It was then that a servant made herself known to them.

" Pardon me, my Lady," she said, bowing her head as Izaya and Tamahome turned to look at her, " the Emperor would like to invite you to join him for dinner tonight." As the woman spoke, Izaya rolled her.

" Again?" she scoffed. " How many times has he invited me to dinner, Meirin? 5? 6 times?" Unable to hold back a small smile and a delicate giggle, the servant girl kept her head low and eyes shut.

" 8, my Lady." she informed the Seiryu priestess who abruptly let out a terrible moan, throwing her head over the back of the chair and flailing both her arms and her legs in the space around herself.

" And I thought men in my world didn't know when to take a hint!" she exclaimed to no one in particular. Tamahome simply watched, lost, but the servant girl placed a hand over her mouth to keep her laughter at the volume of a giggle and hiding her smile, which had undoubtedly widened by that point.

" Shall I refuse him again, my Lady?" she inquired as Izaya brought her head up, back to its proper position over her straightened neck.

" Please. Get one of the soldiers to do it for you if you think he's going to get all upset about it like he did last time." the priestess advised. " Have the soldier say something like ' she's currently entertaining a friend'; that should keep him off all of our backs for the time being." Bowing once more, the woman stepped back into the hallway.

" As you wish, my Lady." she answered, sliding the door shut behind herself.

" JUST IZAYA!" after shouting this call after the servant, Izaya shook her head, her shoulders slumping back and letting her knees stretch out. Altogether, she looked sloven, the complete opposite of a proper lady, the idle image of a priestess to any god. Tilting his head, Tamahome raised a brow at her.

" You refused to eat with the Emperor of Kuto 8 times?" he inquired. Izaya didn't respond right away. She groaned, stomping her feet against the floor several times.

" Eat with that egotistical slob?" she scowled, shaking her head. " The one and only time that I sat down with that man, the more he talked the more my food started to taste like dirt. Now that I get to eat on a regular basis, it has become something I really enjoy and take pleasure in. The hell I'll eat with that man every again. I'd rather gagged." sticking out her tongue, she wrinkled her nose, as though the thought of it alone disgusted her. Raising her head a little bit, she added. " Besides, I planned on eating with you tonight. So really, I'm just refusing him because I had a prior date already fixed up." Tamahome blinked.

" You're eating with me?" he echoed back, pointing his index finger up at his face. Then Izaya blinked at him.

" Yeah, didn't I tell you?" she prompted in return, taking the small frown that formed on the Suzaku warrior's face as an invitation to continue. " While you're here, I'm going to be bringing you your meals; so long as I don't have other duties or get sick or something like that. I'll probably hang out here some too, between meals." she pouted. " It gets so boring, and since you're here anyways I thought, why not? It's not as though you'll be doing much of anything but sitting around in here all day." giggling, she added. " Neh, Tama-chan?" after absorbing the important information from her explanation, Tamahome frowned, narrowing his eyes.

" Tama-chan?" his voice was tight, one of his brows twitching as he spoke. Izaya grinned broadly at him.

" Yeah! That's my nickname for you; cute, isn't it?" she went on giggling, clearly delighted with her choice.

" Don't call me that!" he protested. " I'm a warrior, not a cat!"

" No! That's the name that I came up with for you and I'm going to use it!" she declared, crossing her arms and nodding her head once. Tamahome learned quickly that among the many things that Rin Izaya was, stubborn was most certain one of the strongest points in her.~~

Later that evening, Nakago slammed open the door to Izaya's room. Despite the darkness that had gathered around the palace so many hours ago, he found her as he expected to. Sitting on the floor, a candle beside her, a laying out in front of her. Upon his entry, her head had snapped up and her legs that had been swinging back and forth in the air slowed to a stop.

" Neh, Nakago, you're still up?" she prompted, smiling as she cocked a brow at him. " Rather late for you isn't it? But, come in." Pushing her torso up off the floor, she frowned slightly, rubbing a hand against her rib cage as she sat down, cross legged on the floor. The general didn't say anything; he didn't move. Standing in the doorway, his glaring blue eyes were fixated on her. It took her several seconds to notice it, and when she did a blank, baffled look loosened her features. " Nakago?" He remained silent in the doorframe, focused like a hunter leveling his arrow at a rabbit, just waiting for the chance to let it loose. Moving with a clearly forced slowness, he raised his arms and crossed them over his armor covered chest. Abruptly, Izaya's mouth formed into the shape of an "o" a light flashing behind her eyes for a second.

From then on, all of her actions and words were nervous.

Laughing, she ran a hand through her hair, her bangs falling back into place as soon as her fingers had swept past their ends. " You're mad that I refused the Emperor again, aren't you?" Lifting a brow, the general leaned his shoulder against the door frame, one foot crossing over the other at his ankle and settling back against the floor on the toe of his boot. Izaya watched him, shaking her head and giggling. " Come on, Nakago, you know how I feel about this. You don't really expect me to-" her voice cut off when Nakago's other brow popped up to join the other. With her jaw hanging, unhinged, she just stared at him. There was a pause then, one that lasted until Izaya clicked her teeth back together and started to grind them together.

" I see, and this is what happens if I refuse him the next time, am I right?" the general's brow dropped back down to level. It was as good as a head nod for Izaya, as right after that she gave a snicker. " It's a good try, but it's not going to work. Since you're not really a big talker to begin with, you being like this really doesn't change much." puffing up her chest and scowling deeply at him, there was another pause. Nakago began tapping one of his index fingers against the sleeve of his shirt. A short time pasted, Izaya's eyes narrowing, then widening back to their normal size again.

Sniffing, she spoke again. " The silent treatment, really? What are we? Five years old?" her sneer was met with absolutely nothing verbal. The only change at all was the pace at which Nakago's finger moved, speeding up as though it were the second hand of a clock. Another pause, gray eyes focused in on blue eyes so icy that it sent shivers up the spines of military men of all kinds. Moments passed, Izaya blinked her eyes rapidly and when she noticed her actions she forced herself back to attention. Nakago's regard of her remained as steady as it had since the very start, finger ever shifting back and forth.

" Alright, alright!" she insisted, throwing her arms up in the air, shaking her head and dropping her eyes to the floor. " You win! Next time he invites me for an audience I'll go! Are you happy now?" The general straightened up, letting his arms drop to his sides. Rubbing her temples and giving a long, exhausted sigh, Izaya grumbled. " You're a pain in the ass sometimes, you know that?"

" I know." he answered, smirking as he turned around, closing the door to Izaya's room as he left.~~~~~~~~

lol, at the end of the day Nakago wins! XD Next chapter will be up within the next few hours (hopefully). Read, love, REVIEW!


	6. Defiled

And here's that second chapter I promised! God I'm tired!

As fortune( or misfortune as Izaya thought of it) would have it, the Emperor invited Izaya to join him late the next evening in his private quarters. When the servant had first prompted her with this request, sitting opposite of Tamahome with their lunches between each other, Izaya had opened her mouth to refuse. She'd heard the many rumors about his love life, or rather his harem of women hidden within the palace walls. Meeting with the man at night in private went against every instinct that she had. However, she remembered the conversation that she had had the night before with Nakago. It was that thought alone that caused her to shut her mouth without speaking. Growling under her breath, her fingers clenched around the chopsticks in her hands.

And grudgingly, she agreed.

When the time came for her to meet with him, one of the evening servants came to get her from the room. Following after her, Izaya dragged her feet as much as possible. Distracting the both of them with conversation, questions, and odd ball objects she pointed out, when they reached the Emperor's private quarters the priestess of Seiryu felt as though she should've ran off to look at things. She couldn't help feeling as though they had reached the room far too quickly as the servant informed the Emperor of her entry.

" Ah! Yes! Come in, come in, Lady Izaya!" he welcomed her with open arms as she stepped inside. The instant she got a look at him she wrinkled her nose. Dressed in a red robe with gold designs ingrained it in, a bit of his curly chest hair peaked out from above the folds. Smiling broadly at her, he strode towards. When he attempted to put his arm around her shoulder, Izaya had bowed at the waist to avoid him.

"My Lord." she replied, placing herself opposite of him and acting as though she were giving him the proper respect. Waving the servant away, the door shut and Izaya was left alone in the room with the Emperor.

It looked as though the room hadn't been used very much recently. The bookshelf that was set into the wall just above the desk was lined up perfectly, a fine layer of dust collecting over the small collection of unopened tomes. There was nothing on the desk expect for a jade statue of a dragon, its front clay raised up and jaw slacked, leaving sharp fangs visible within its light green mouth, a set of brushes, ink, and an ink stone. All of these writing utensils were clean and looked completely untouched. The bed looked as unperturbed as the desk. All of the sheets were clean and wrinkle free, the drapes hanging from the posts drooping at just the right spots, the rounded parts of it set perfectly. In fact, the only thing that looked to have been moved in the least was the table set, and that was only because one of the chairs had been pulled away and twisted so that it faced the door instead of its partner on the opposite side of the table.

" Please, make yourself at home, Lady Izaya," Izaya fought down the urge to snort at these words, " it has been some time she we last talked." Moving smoothly, the Emperor took a seat in the out turned chair. Frowning, Izaya stuck close to the door, crossing her arms and leaning against the wall just next to it, placing the back of one of her feet against the wood paneling.

" Since you showed me your library, I think." Izaya provided for him, with holding the word "only" from the sentence only with a strong force of will.

" Yes," he agreed, raising his brows at her, keeping that smile painted across his face, " for a moment there, I was beginning to think that you avoiding me."

Oh? He'd noticed that had he?

" Oh, no, no!" she insisted, waving her hands in front of herself. " It wasn't anything like that! I've been terribly busy lately, what with searching for the Seiryu warriors and preventing the Suzaku warriors from obtaining Suzaku before we can gather everyone, I've been at my wits end. That's without mentioning my other duties as priestess, it's rather miraculous that I still find time to bath some days." A bit of glee shot through her chest when the Emperor's face contorted at her choice of words. Waving her hand at him, she couldn't help adding. " You understand, I'm sure."

" Of course." his agreement came with a strained tone of voice and the way his mouth was spread across his face made the smile on it appear painful. Standing up, the Kuto leader moved his hands behind his back, taking a few paces closer to where she was. His eyes were focused on the door as if it were a window to the outside and the entire time, Izaya focused her eyes on him. Narrowing them for a second, she took in the details of his bulky form.

It wasn't so much that she felt threatened by him, she'd had enough contact with big biker types and frat boys for the size to be un-intimidating in her eyes. What had her so focused on him was something she couldn't quite put her finger on. There was something off about the man, she could feel it, but the why and how of it were as clear as mud.

" Has Nakago been keeping you up to date about our preparations for the war?" Smirking, Izaya hummed affirmation lifting her back off the wall and standing up straight.

" He manages to make the time to inform me of what's happening through his own busy schedule," she replied, " there are a lot of men under his command, I suppose there is never a dull moment in the day for him." The Emperor hummed.

" He has been groomed into a fine general," he affirmed, adding, " far different from what he used to be as a child." These words had immediately captured Izaya. When she noticed her forward lean and intent focus on the older man, the priestess of Seiryu cursed herself inwardly and forced herself to look disengaged. Though, by the look that the Kuto leader was sending her from the corners of his eyes, she had the feeling she had been too late to hide it from him.

" Oh? Is that so?" taking a few steps, she turned her back to the Emperor, hoping to pull her composure back together while he couldn't see her face. " I wasn't aware that Nakago had grown up at the palace." shrugging her shoulders, she twisted herself back around. " You learn something new every day-" It was then that the older men leaped at her, catching the priestess completely by surprise.

Throwing her on the bed, the Emperor of Kuto pinned her down. Kissing at the nape of Izaya's neck, he held both her wrists with one hand while the other began to work at her clothes, attempting to pull her shirt up over her head. All the while she struggled against the man, squirming, straining her arms to try and break herself free of the old man. When one of her feet caught something that felt a bit too soft to be leg, Izaya stomped her foot down. The Emperor let out a howl and with as much force as she could muster, Izaya shoved the man off to the side of the bed. Scrambling, she hurriedly got her feet on the ground. Digging into her jean pockets, she flipped open her blade, though not fast enough. When she moved to point it at the Emperor, it was knocked from her hand, clattering to the floor. Lurching for it, she was brought to a grinding halt by the older man's tight grip around one of her wrists.

" Let go of me!" she snarled, yanking her arm in a vain attempt to break herself free of him. The Kuto leader's beady dark eyes glared.

" You'll pay for that, you little bitch!" he declared, dragging her closer to his body. " That little rebellious act might be cute to some people, but you will give me the respect that I deserve-!" Abruptly, Izaya spat in his face, some of her projectile saliva catching the man in the eye. Yelping, he withdrew, attempting to clean his eyes with one hand, his grip on her hand with the other loosening, but not lost. It was all that Izaya needed, and she ripped her arm from his hand while he was busy clearing her bodily fluid from his eyes. Rushing, her hand managed to clamp around the hilt of her dagger a second time. The Emperor grabbed this same arm a second later, giving it a hard twist. Yelping from the sharp pain that shot up her arm, Izaya dropped the blade and was slapped across the face.

" You WILL listen to me." he demanded of her, attempting to pull her back to the bed at the opposite side of the room. Dragging her feet, digging her heels into the floor boards, Izaya reached out, trying to get her dagger. Scowling, the Emperor threw her against the wall hard enough that a distinct thud could be heard when her body made contact with it. Once again, he had pinned her down, and she strained and struggled against him even more so then the first time. " You're willing to kill the EMPEROR?" he put emphasis on it as a sickening, smug grin came to his lip. For a second, Izaya stopped, glaring hotly into his eyes.

" Hell yes." she replied, and began struggling against him once more. The man's eyes widened and he tightened his grip around her injured wrist. It drew a short cry out of the girl, her body tensing.

" The hell you would!" he retorted in his shock. " I'm the head of this nation! You wouldn't be able to get out of this room alive if you killed me!" Izaya snorted.

" Yeah," she answered, squirming still, " but if its the likes of you, I think I'd rather die!" Shocked, the Kuto Emperor's face contorted and he pulled both of her hands together high over her head. Again, he held both of her hands by the wrists, freeing up his other hand to start working on her removing her pants; shirt laying long forgotten on the floor. " NOO! YOU FUCKING BASTARD! LET GO OF ME-!"

It was then that, suddenly, the door to the room opened. Stopping, the Emperor turned and Izaya didn't miss the chance, struggling again. Scowling, the Emperor had to return his focus to her in order to keep her under control. Unable to free herself, Izaya stilled, her eyes finally taking notice of the person who had interrupted the scene.

" Nakago. . ." his name slipped out of her mouth lightly and she stared at him with wide eyes. Even as she was, Izaya noticed something off about the general. His bright blue eyes gawked in a way that seemed almost void; as though he were both seeing what was happening before himself, but also not at the same time.

" What is it, Nakago?" the Emperor prompted, speaking leisurely, as though this happened everyday. Blinking, the prompted question seemed to bring Nakago back to the present. He looked at the Emperor and then at Izaya. She held his eyes for a few seconds.

Then, pooling up her strength, Izaya jerked her knee upward into the gut of the Emperor. Caught by surprise, the Kuto leader stumbled back from her, clenching his stomach and releasing Izaya. Landing on her feet, she ducked down, grabbing her dagger with her good hand while the older man's innards emptied themselves onto the floor. Once he'd begun to straighten, the priestess had been quick to turning the point the blade at the Emperor's throat. He froze instantly, eyes glued onto the blade that gleamed brightly up at him in the low light. Swiftly, Izaya snatched him by the collar of his robes.

" Look me in the eyes!" Izaya snarled, lifting the knife higher, pushing it closer to the man's throat. A small gasp came out of him and he quickly did as he was told. Forcefully, she shook him, glaring.

When she spoke next, her voice contained such a harshness to it that it was palpable.

" If you EVER try something like this again! If you every touch me or even so much as look in my direction again, I swear that I will make you wish I had had the kindness to slice your throat wide open here and now!" Turning the dagger, giving it an upward angle, she hollered. " ARE WE CLEAR?" Stiffly, the Emperor nodded his head over at over again. Then, she spat into his face a second time and shoved him back as hard as she could muster. He dropped to the floor like a load of led bricks, a shivering mound of flesh and bone.

Spinning on her heels, Izaya headed to where Nakago was standing in the door frame of the room. She passed him without making eye contact.

" NAKAGO! We're leaving!" With that last command, she strode away. As ordered, the military man followed after her, sliding the door shut behind them.

It was a silent procession in the halls of the palace after that. Izaya kept a swift, long stride, as though she were running late for a very important appointment. She kept herself a single stride ahead of Nakago all the while. However, even from behind her, the military captain could she her down turned head. Swinging around one corner, she came to an abrupt halt. She didn't look back at Nakago, holding her ground, the hand not clamped around the dagger clenched into a tight fist.

" You can go now." she said, voice toneless and unreadable. There was a short pause. Then, reaching out, Nakago touched her shoulder. A jolt ran up Izaya's spine and she jerked away from him, spinning around to face him. For a second, she held his stern face with one of her own, eyes holding the determination glare.

After that second, however, moisture entered her eyes and broke free down her cheeks. Blinking, as though unsure of just what had happened, she wiped the tears away with a furious hand and continued to glare up at Nakago. It didn't do a thing; more tears trailing down her face after the first were gone. Then, unable to ignore the tears, Izaya turned her gaze to the wall.

" Dammit!" she swore, trying to remove every tear from her face which was a futile effort. " God dammit!" Bracing herself against the wall, she lowered her head even more as though trying to hide the already obvious from the general.

Suddenly, Nakago grabbed her up off of her feet. She yelped at the abrupt action and reflexively tightened her grip on Nakago's bright blue cape to keep from tumbling to the ground. Not to say that Nakago himself would've dropped her, as he held her bridal style in his arms. Shifting the loose ends of the blue clothe slung over his shoulder, Nakago covered her almost completely exposed top before beginning to walk down the hall. Gray eyes glanced up at him, searching for some sort of answer to these actions. Izaya's searching gaze was given nothing in return; Nakago's gaze focused forwards on the hallway, his irises never once drifting down to where she clung to his chest. After a few seconds, she let her head rest against the breast plate of his armor, tears trailing down her face. The redness of her rubbing only half covered the flush that colored her cheeks. While holding her, Nakago felt her quaking. He said nothing about it; nothing about her quiet sobs as he moved briskly through the halls.

Reaching her room, Nakago set her down on her bed, grabbing one of the spare chairs in the room and placing it beside her bed. As he settled down, he heard Izaya muttering furiously to herself.

" Fucking-" she growled, the tears finally clearing away from her face and staying off of it.

" Izaya." Nakago spoke up and the girl looked up into his face slowly. Reaching out, he took her hand, grasping it tightly with his own. " It's alright." squeezing her hand, he said. " It's alright now, Izaya." For a few seconds, she held his eyes, blank faced. Then, when she seemed to register what it was that he was saying to her, she gave a wry smile, squeezing his hand back in return. Lowering her gaze where his hand held to her's, Izaya shook her head.

" This is embarrassing." she mumbled, running her free arm under her nose and sniffling once. Still shaking her head, she took a very deep breath of air into her lungs and exhaled slowly.

What she did next, however, caught Nakago's attention.

Lifting the hand he had around hers, Izaya touched her lips to the back of his hand; a gentle kiss. Staring, he allowed her to take this same hand and nuzzle it against her cheek.

" Thank you, Nakago." she murmured the words, her breath falling warm against his knuckles. Then, just like that, she moved their hands away once again and lifted her eyes and gaze into his face steadily once more. There was a sparkle in her eyes still from the forming tears, but the smile that was on her face was the most honest that Nakago had ever encountered so far from Izaya. The face she wore was sweet; he might have even considered using the word "innocent" though he knew her too well to actually say that. It was enough that he turned his head away, unable to keep eye contact with her. With one final squeeze of his hand, she gently loosened her grasp and let Nakago's hand slip away from her own. Quietly, she pulled back the blankets off her bed and crawled under them, yanking the end of it so that it covered all of her from the neck down.

Nakago moved to stand up. However, Izaya quickly snatched his sleeve, drawing his eyes back down onto her. She avoided his eyes and was silent for a second.

" Could you- stay here for tonight?" she murmured, face reddened even more so then before. Nakago didn't say anything, and she glanced up at him, shy suddenly.

" I was planning on it, " he stated, raising a brow as he added, " but I would like to remove my armor if it's all the same to you, Lady Izaya?" A smirk crossed his lips when her face turned an even darker shade of red. Quickly, she let go of his sleeve and spun around, facing away from him. She didn't say anything and when Nakago looked, he could see her ears were as red as the rest of her face had been. It earned snickers from him. Nakago returned to the chair he'd placed beside her bed once he'd set his armor to the side of the room. Izaya never turned back around to face him and with the time, her ears had ceased to appear red. So much time passed in silence that, if Izaya hadn't spoken up when she did, he would've guessed that she'd fallen asleep.

" Neh, neh, Nakago?" she said, voice muffled a little as she remained turned away from him at that time. There was a long pause after that. Too long, Nakago recognized the space in time as out of place with her usual continuation of speaking when she got his attention like that. Frowning, he grunted, showing that he had heard her words and waited for her to go on. His responce was met with only silence.

" Lady Izaya?" he prompted softly, seeing her shoulders snap tightly. After a second, Izaya let them relax and gave a gentle hum in return.

" Ah, sorry," she apologized, still not turning towards him as she spoke, " I was just thinking that if I could make one of those wishes right now, I'd wish that this palace was at the top of the tallest mountain in Kuto." a short giggled followed her words, and Nakago raised a brow, watching her. " Then I could drop the Emperor off of the mountaintop!" Her frame shook with her laughter. Snorting, Nakago crossed his arms.

" What a wasteful wish." he stated, voice tone flat. Izaya laughed more, nodding her head

" True. There are easier ways of killing a man." she agreed, her light voice tone darkening and lowering as she added. " Besides, there would be plenty of other people in my world that I'd like to do the same thing to." As Nakago watched her, he saw her shrink further down under the covers, adjusting her body position as though she thought he was trying to sneak a peak at her expression as she lay there. Her grip tightened on the blanket as she spoke again.

" With how I reacted, you might be surprised to find that I've been in situations like that a handful of times before." There's a pause, and after a bit of time, a long sigh fell out of Izaya. " Can't say its always been men either, now that I think about it." shaking her head, she gave soft snort. " The ladies can be quite forceful if you're not careful, neh?" she got no answer back for this prompted question, but she didn't seem to care if she got one or not, chuckling amiably as she always seemed to do. It dropped off into a sullen sigh not long after though, and another silence fell between them, both of them very still.

Turning over onto her back, Izaya lay her forearm over her eyes, keeping Nakago from making contact with his icy blue gaze. " God, I'm so tired." then there was another long pause, one where Izaya simply lay there, tugging gently at the blankets so that they rested against her collar bone, her arms clumping it up over her middle. She never moved her forearm away from her eyes.

" Then you should sleep." he answered her after a long stretch of time had passed. Snorted, she raised her arm high enough to send a glare at the military general. He held her gaze steadily with his own and eventually her mouth parted into a smile. Izaya only started talking again once she'd replaced her forearm over her eyes.

" You know that's not what I meant." she pointed out, shaking her head. " Sometimes I really wonder if you understand a word that comes out of my mouth, Nakago."

" I understand." his respond was so prompt that Izaya raised her arm and gazed at him. One of her brows was raised at first, but it quickly fell as she looked at Nakago. The expression on Nakago's face was one that gave away absolutely nothing. With his mouth drawn tight and his shoulders held, strong as stone, Nakago captured her gray eyes with his blue ones. Izaya's starting inquisitive look, however, slowly dropped, twisting as though she were concerned for Nakago's well being. She was taking something from him; her facial changes might have been in response to a story to an on looker. However, the general was as still and silent as a statue. After a long time, Izaya finally broke eye contact. Turning towards him this time, she dragged the blankets over her shoulders, covering herself from the neck down.

" Neh, neh, Nakago-?" the general shushed her.

" Sleep." he insisted, voice firm though as he placed his hand over her eyes the touch was gentle. " It will do you good."~~~~~~~~~~~

That chapter, my friends, is why I rated this T and considered rating it M (among other reasons). NAKAGO TO THE RESCUE! XD Read, love, REVIEW PLEASE! I appreciate any kind of feed back, though I prefer encouragement over flames!


	7. Idiot

Another chapter up and ready to go! Enjoy

Disclaimer: I do NOT own Fushigi Yuugi or any of its characters. But Izaya is mine. MINE!~~~

The following day, Izaya didn't leave her room, not even to eat. Early in the morning, Nakago called two of his soldier over to stand guard over her. When they asked him what the reason was, their captain had dragged them into private. Both men reappeared looking like ghosts and, scowling, Nakago had swept away to perform his regular duties as general. Other palace workers tried to ask the two soldiers what had happened, but every time they were prompted with the question they would pale and shake their heads. That was enough of a sign for most to not ask anymore; the soldiers didn't know and judging by their reactions, Nakago was going to "deal with" anyone who tried to pry into the subject. Servants brought food and books when she requested them throughout the day, all careful not to inquire about the night before for fear of incurring the general's wrath. Later in the evening, Nakago had slipped into Izaya's room and didn't come out for a long time.

Rumors had started spreading like wild fire within the first few hours. Nakago had never been known to get so protective of anyone; that he threatened his soldiers so badly that they turned white was proof enough to everyone that he was being protective of the Seiryu priestess. When one man mentioned that he'd seen the general carrying to her room the night before, the gossip doubled. Maids and kitchen girls insisting whispering about "love affairs with the priestess" while men insinuated sex at every possible opportunity. Of course, they were careful not to say anything about it while the general was anywhere within hearing distance; those that did would be killed and they ALL knew it.

The morning after isolating herself from the rest of the palace, Izaya was wandering around once again. She looked as normal as she had prior to locking herself in her room, except for the two guard escort that tailed her throughout the day. Not that she seemed to mind the company; throughout the day she could be seen spun around, walking backward as she spoke with the two men constantly. When anyone mentioned her being in her room all day, the young priestess had simply forced a smile to her lips and said something along the lines of:

" I wasn't feeling well; stomach flu probably, but I'm feeling fine today."

When asked about the general's involvement, she'd said:

" He was taking care of me; found me passed out in the hallway curled over my stomach. Think it really worried him."

This didn't stop the rumors, obviously, but it had certainly given a rational reason for everything that had been seen and done in the past few days. Well, if they believed her. A large number of the palace staff didn't take her word for it, though what had actually happened was speculated about until late that evening. While walking back toward her room, Izaya had crossed paths with the Emperor. They were on opposite sides of one of the gardens; both had stopped upon catching sight of the other. There was a long staring contest over the flowers, stones, and grasses.

Then, a twisted smile had formed on the priestess' lips which the Emperor flinched at the sight over. Raising a hand, Izaya traced a line perpendicular across her neck, her tongue hanging out and head hanging at an angle when she let her hand fall back to her side. The Emperor paled visibly, gulping before spinning away and hurrying down the halls. The priestess had watched until he disappeared, a hand on her popped out hip, both of the guards exchanging unsure glances behind her. Turning to them, she'd grinned, waving a dismissive hand before continuing back to her room.

When word of this incident had spread all the rumors had ceased. From the second day out of her room since her "sickness" on, all of the palace workers had begun to look and treat her with a new, greater respect. Women beamed, their faces showing bright with awe and graditude. Men made it a point to be as polite as possible as well as giving her as much personal space as she wanted; never approaching her but allowing her to approach them. No one knew for certain just what specifically had happened between the priestess and Emperor. With what happened between the two across the garden, however, had made it painfully clear just who had come out the victor at the end of the night. For the workers in this palace, that was enough.

Days went by and the regular rhythm had returned to the lives of those in the castle. Aside from the Emperor's lack there of interest in having the priestess in his company nothing had changed.

Izaya was back to delivering meals to the Suzaku warrior despite the protests of the server girls and kitchen workers. Coming in with a tray for breakfast, the Seiryu priestess had blinked when she noticed the change of clothes that Tamahome had gotten into that morning. Laughing, she crossed the room, placing the tray down on the table with the Suzaku warrior's eyes following her as she went. Placing a hand on the table, she leaned, her other hand moving to her hip.

" Black really doesn't suite you." she giggled, a scowl forming on Tamahome's face. " It makes you look like an idiot trying to pass himself off as a hard ass. Stick to blue, bird man."

" Well someone's not in a good mood today." he commented, glaring at her as he sat down to eat. " Usually you wait until at least half way into a conversation before calling me an idiot." Pointing his chopsticks at her, he added. " Which I'm not, by the way." Shrugging her shoulders, Izaya pulled out the chair on the left side of the table and settled down herself.

" The more defensive you get about it the more you prove that you are an idiot; people only get that defensive about something if it's true." she pointed out as Tamahome began eating. As he chewed he glared at her even more, a pout on his face when he finally swallowed what he'd been nibbling on.

" It's the same as you being a serious bitch." he retorted, a comment which had the priestess throwing her head back and laughing.

" That's a fact that I openly admit to, Tama-chan; there's nothing defensive about it. You're the one who's in denial of his idiocy. Don't you know the first step to fixing a problem is admitting that you have one?" crossing her arms, she leaned back in her chair, sniffing smugly at him. Tamahome rolled his eyes and kept eating.

" I don't have a problem; I'm not an idiot." he insisted as he took a drink of tea. Shaking her head, Izaya let out a long, heavy sigh. Placing a hand on her forehead, she rubbed her temples as though a headache was already pounding through her head.

" And that is why you will always be an idiot." she answered just as the doors to the room slid open. Both of them glanced around and as Tamahome instantly stiffened, a smile spread wide across Izaya's face. " Neh! How unexpected!" turning, she crossed one leg over the other, placing her chin in her hand as she finished. " What brings you here this time of day, Nakago?" The blonde general had a little smirk on his face and as he came to a stop at the corner of the table, Izaya tilted her head, raising a brow at him. Nakago focused in on her for a second, his expression giving away nothing that he didn't want her to see.

" Excuse me, Lady Izaya," he said in the attempt to look polite in front of Tamahome, " I just heard a very interesting story." Izaya's brow dropped slowly, though she still hit Nakago with a stare that made it seem as though she were gazing straight through him and into his very soul " It would seem that the priestess of Suzaku has lost her sight." That had the full attention of both Izaya and Tamahome, though only the Suzaku warrior jumped to his feet in response to these words.

" What?!" he exclaimed, distracted after a second by the little snicker that slipped out of Izaya's mouth. As both warriors focused their attention on her, the priestess eyed the Kuto general with a stone steady gaze.

" Oh? Is that so?" the short few words that came out were followed up with a little smirk. Nodding, Nakago shut his eyes and went on.

" She seems to have caught some contagious disease. It's a fatal disease which has no known cure." he reported on. Tamahome's jaw had slacked, what was on his mind made clear by the expression on his face. The silence that had fallen over the room then was broken up by Izaya's laughter. Horrified, the Suzaku warrior looked over at the Seiryu priestess soon enough to see her lean back in her chair and rest one elbow on the table while letting the other hand settle in her lap.

" Well, what do you know?" she spoke casually, though as she turned her head towards the window on the wall opposite the door it seemed that the words weren't directed at anyone in particular. " Maybe there is some justice in this world after all." Nakago's mild blink after hearing this comment was overshadowed by Tamahome's outright protest of her words.

" Justice?!" the Suzaku warrior snarled. " You think Miaka deserves to be blind and die at the hands of some illness?!" when his words were met with silence, the Seiryu priestess not even twitching at the sound of his voice, Tamahome couldn't seem to hold himself back. " What the hell kind of priestess are you?! Laughing at the expense of others! After she went through all the trouble to try and rescue you-!" his words caught in his throat when Izaya shot up out of her seat. Her eyes, normally as steady and cold as stones, shown with a storm. That smirk still colored her face, the tension in her thin muscles but leisurely appearance the signs of the type of control that experienced fighters showed. Slowly, she turned her eyes from him, taking a pace around her chair and pushing it gently back into place beside the table.

" You really need to take a hint, you know that, Tama-chan?" she said, glancing over her shoulder at him. When he didn't say or do anything in response, she shook her head, making her way over to the window. Both of her hands lay against the opposite elbow, the body position looking odd on someone so young. " Let me make this perfectly clear to you then: I never asked to be rescued." Turning, though she glared at him from across the room the anger reached the Suzaku warrior, setting his skin prickling with unease. " If you're little girlfriend was too stupid to realize that I was in Kuto of my own accord that's not my problem. So if you expect me to give her any sort of 'thank you' on account of that you can take that idea and shove it up your ass."

Looking back out the window again, she went right on to say. " As for Miaka, I never said that she deserved to be blind or die. Don't put words in my mouth." This time it was Tamahome's turn to simply blink at her, utterly lost about what she was saying. With lips pressed into an even line, Izaya continued to stare out the window. Letting herself drift, the priestess leaned her shoulder against the window's framework, letting her head tilt and touch the side as well.

There was a pause, one where the two men simply waited for her to go on. When she did her voice was flat, though the smirk pressed at her lips by the end of her explaination.

" That someone privileged is finally getting a taste of true pain, THAT is justice." sniffing she spun on her heels and headed for the door. " About time some of the suffering has been given to someone like her instead of another poor man on the streets. Come on, Nakago. I want to hear more about this deadly disease." passing beyond the threshold, the general paused only long enough to send a little sneer over at Tamahome before following after Izaya. ~~

That evening, Tamahome made a break for it. There was nothing for him here; it had become clear to him that morning that Izaya was beyond his help. Finding that they actually got along half way, despite being enemies had given the Suzaku warrior the idea that he might have been able to persuade the Seiryu priestess that what Kuto was doing was wrong. He'd thought that he could convince her that leaving the palace and Nakago behind was really the best thing she could do not only for herself, but for all of the people of Konan and Kuto.

This hope had been ripped out of him by Izaya herself earlier that day. No matter how normal she appeared, how human her likes and dislikes, Tamahome was sure that she was a demon. A demon with the thin face and frame of a human being, who walked and talked like a person, but had no heart; no compassion.

As far as he was concerned she was evil to the very core.

Besides, in his mind, whenever he closed his eyes all the Suzaku warrior could see was Miaka, sick, sightless and dying. This was no time for him to be clinging to false hopes of "helping" Izaya. As he ran he could only think of the Suzaku priestess, praying for her well being.

That was, until he spotted someone up ahead.

Slowing to a stop, dread dragged at his heart, pulling it down to the level of his stomach as he recognized the skinny form and short black hair. Leaned back against one of the support beams on the right side, Izaya stood with her arms crossed under her breasts. Like earlier in the day, there was a smirk on her face and the look in her eyes gave him an eerie feeling that she had known exactly what he was going to do from the very beginning. As he stopped, the Seiryu priestess pushed herself up off the beam, planting both her feet on the ground and walking the short distance that had been left between the two of them.

" Neh, neh, Tama-chan?" she said with a wave, that smirk spreading wide across her face. " What are you doing way out here so late at night?" As she slowly paced around the front of him, a shiver ran up Tamahome's spine. Those stone eyes were cold, so steady and focused it unnerved him. A feeling of foreboding whipped through him because of that stare that rested on him far too long; that saw far too much. " You know we have our usual breakfast date tomorrow morning, right? You should be sleeping." Clenching his fists, the Suzaku warrior drew his shoulders up tall, the bit of anger that had arisen and quickly gotten the better of him.

" Screw your 'breakfast date'!" he snapped back stepping closer, into her comfort zone. Izaya didn't look the least bit perturbed by his closeness or his temper. Those gray eyes never left his face and she stood her ground, a statue before him. " Miaka is out there, probably suffering! When I think of that," his voice lowered and he raised one of his clenched fists, looking at it for a short time before returning his attention to the Seiryu priestess, " I can't just stay here and do nothing!" Sternly, he finished. " I'm leaving-"

" You're really missing the point of the entire situation you're in." Izaya interjected, cool, casual in a way that Tamahome had heard her use while referring to the weather. Raising both of her brows, she went on. " The whole reason that you're here is because you're a hostage; a hostage taken with the promise of the safety of the Konan villages closest to the Kuto boarder." Turning, the pressure of her steady gaze left him as the girl from another world looked up at the ceiling over them, one of her hands on her chin. Quietly, she stopped by the wall, humming.

" Tell me," she spun around to face him again as she spoke, " if you leave now just what do you think will happen to those villages and their people?" Grinding his teeth, Tamahome lowered his head, the inner struggle written on his face, plastered in his tense muscles. As she stood by and watched him fight with himself, Izaya smirked, smug, at ease in the knowledge that no matter what, she was going to win the night. " You have two choices, Tama-chan; the lives of those villagers or the life of your precious Miaka." Watching him, studying him, she stepped closer so that they stood side by side but faced opposite directions. " Which will it be?" There was a long pause after that.

Then Tamahome started to run towards the palace entrance.

" Bad choice, Tama-chan." Izaya murmured, shaking her head. She didn't turn around, didn't even flinch at the snap of the whip that caught the Suzaku warrior in the leg. He hit the floor with a heavy thud and a short cry of protest. " So, you had the same idea, neh, Nakago?" There was no answer to this question as the general stepped out of hiding, the handle of a whip in one hand while the other pulled the leather length taut.

" It seems out 'guest' doesn't understand his place here." the general sneered something that had Izaya giggling.

" I KNOW, right?! That's what I was saying!" she exclaimed, sounding positively girlish. Twisting his head around, Nakago hit her with a deep frown and glare. Looking back, after a second she sighed and patted his arm. " Yeah, yeah, I know, this really isn't the time for that. God!" pouting, she crossed her arms and muttered. " I was just having a little fun. It's not a crime."

" Bring him to the dungeon!" the general called out to his soldiers. They managed to wrestle the Suzaku warrior down and force his arms behind his back, tying and yanking Tamahome away. Watching them go, Izaya waved, giggling and saying thanks to Nakago's men as the left. The general himself had looped up his whip and put it back in place on his belt. Crossing his arms, he gave a steady stare at Izaya until she turned his direction. Seeing the look on his face, she instantly glared and pointed at him.

" Hey, hey, hey! You didn't mention a damn thing to me about him making a run for it either! As far as I'm concerned, we're even!" she snapped, stomping her foot. Spinning on her heels, Izaya stormed off without looking back.~~

After eating breakfast the next more, Izaya made her way down into the dungeon, whistling a song as she went along. Hearing several sharp snapping sounds along the way, she only paused and listened for a minute after hearing the first. The rest of the time she'd simply gone back to skipping down the stairs and whistling.

" Hello, gentlemen!" Izaya called, waving at the two guards that were standing in front of the cell once she reached the one that the cries of pain were echoing from. As they turned, Izaya took up a narrow space between and in front of the two of them, grinning at the two.

" Lady Izaya." one greeted, both looking at her with warm eyes and smiles.

" You look well this morning, priestess." the other tacked on, something that Izaya giggled about.

" Hey now, haven't I told you guys all to just call me ' Izaya' ?" she inquired of them. Both men turned their eyes downward onto their feet, shuffling side to side and looking embarrest. Rolling her eyes, the Seiryu priestess shook her head patting both men once on their arms. " Next time guys. Anyways, how goes it down here?" arching her neck, she attempted to peak into the cell. Izaya could see Nakago's bright golden hair inside of it, not the least bit surprised to find him doing the grunt work for himself. Judging by the sounds she'd heard on the way down she could guess what sort of damage he was inflicting on their "guest" though at the moment she couldn't see because of the board armored shoulders of the general blocking her view. The two guards exchanged glances.

Scowling, Izaya placed a hand on her hip. " Oh, come on, guys. It's not like I'm going to go in there and stop him; not that I could if I wanted to." Sniffing, she nodded her head to the inside of the cell. " I just want to know what's up."

" You sure?" one of them insisted, glancing over his shoulder at the scene. " It's gruesome stuff, priestess." a grin spread wide across her lips, wolfish as she stepped past both of the guards and rested a hand against the thick wooden bars of the cell.

" I bet it is." she agreed, a low growl in her voice as she spoke. The two men stared down at her, then looked at one another. Glancing over her shoulders at them, the priestess persisted, patting the lock. " Come on, let me have a look see. There's nothing wrong with a look see. Besides, " her voice level raised to a yell, " if NAKAGO didn't want me around he'd have thrown me out by now, RIGHT?!" if the Kuto general heard her even a little bit, he never showed it, not saying or doing anything in response to her shouts.

Nodding her head, Izaya glanced back at both of the men. While the first man hesitated, the second grabbed up the keys and opened up the cell. " Thank you." she said to him as he allowed her to slip inside. As the lock clicked shut behind her, Izaya grinned at the two guards before making her way across the cell to where Nakago and a few other men were.

They small collection of soldiers was gathered around Tamahome. Chained by the wrists and ankles, the Suzaku warrior was bare chested, panting. If he was conscious it was only just barely; there was a hazy, unfocused look to his eyes that made it clear just how close to gone that he was. While the two other men in the cell had clubs in their hands, Nakago held the whip in his hand with the poised beauty of a snake. All the weapons had been used on the enemy warrior, evident by the extensive bruises and cuts that colored his skin. Coming up beside the general, she gave a low whistle, place a hand on her hip.

" You guys sure did a number on Tama-chan." she commented casually as Nakago glanced over at her.

" Why do you have an entire container of baijiu with you?" he inquired abruptly, taking note of the rounded container with a cork on top that was tied to her waist by a string. Blinking, after a second she smiled at him. Using both hands she unstraped the container from her hip and held it up, swishing the contents of it as she moved her hand side to side.

" Is that what this is called? Bai-jiu?" she tried out the word as someone might try a new food he or she has never seen before. Slow but curious. Shrugging her shoulders she looked up into his face. " One of the old kitchen guys I was drinking with last night gave it to me; said it was good stuff that had some real kick to it. I'm trying to find the right place to sit down and drink it." Holding it out to him, she inquired. " You want some?" Brows arching downward, the general glared and scowled at at the same time, the message clear. Raising a hand, she amended. " Sorry, sorry. Just being polite, thought I'd offer."

Dropping her arms to her sides, the priestess' eyes swept over the badly beaten Suzaku warrior. Nodding her head at him, she prompted. " Are you done with him yet? I'm bored."

" Is he still conscious?" Nakago called to one of his underlings. One man grabbed Tamahome's face just under his chin. Turning the boy's face side to side, inspecting the Suzaku warrior, the nodded his head at his general. Turning to Izaya, Nakago said. " No, I'm not done." The Seiryu priestess replaced a hand on her hip.

" Well, you mind if I interrupt for a few minutes then?" as Nakago narrowed his eyes at her again, she quickly added. " I'm not going to do anything to him; just talk. Give him a breather with me and you might get to play with him longer." she said, smiling far too widely, her brows far too high on her forehead. " Hm? Hm?"

" Fine." he answered, sniff, gathering the tail end of his whip into his hand and waving for his men to step back. " But make it quick." The general didn't back off until she smiled and nodded in return. When he'd turned around she'd waved at him while sticking out her tongue before turning her attention onto Tamahome.

Sitting down a short distance away from him, Izaya crossed her legs, popping the cork on the baijiu that she'd been given. Putting it to her lips, she drank, a long, deep gulp. Sighing, she snapped the contain down so that it hit the floor with a distinct thud. Wiping her mouth, the Seiryu priestess looked up at the Suzaku captive, gaze even and steady.

" What do you want?" Tamahome's voice came out a garbled drawl, heading hanging forward in a haphazard fashion.

" Nothing." she answered, smiling and giggling. " I just came to make sure that you're getting the right idea about all of this." Leaning forward, she lowered her eyes down onto the baijiu jug, lifting a finger and tracing it along the top of the container. " This has nothing to do with being at war with Konan or us being cruel or evil." Snapping back to attention, Izaya's gray eyes barreled up at Tamahome, piercing him like a blade with cool stone color. " You were given a choice. It was either those villages or Miaka. And just like your choice to become our captive, the one you made last night came and comes with consequences."

Putting the cork back on the baijiu jug, Izaya got up, dusting off her jeans and shirt as she did. Strapping the jug against her waist once more, she closed the gap between the two of them, planting herself squarely in front of Tamahome. The instant she halted the Suzaku warrior spat right in her face. Eyes shut, nose wrinkled, Izaya heard the sound of the guards in the cell shifting and held up a hard to stop them.

" It's alright, it's alright," she said to them, taking a hand and sweeping it across her face, sliding away Tamahome's saliva, " real cute, Tama-chan, " blinking her eyes, she wiped off her hands on her pants, looking up into their hostage's face once more, " you think I haven't dealt with that kind of thing before?" Rolling her eyes, she shook her head, holding up a hand and wiggling a finger at him. Looking at it a second, she frowned before swiping it off on his bruised shoulder.

" But, you know, while these guys finish beating the tar out of you, I think you should think about all those villages and their people. You know," leaning forward, she raised her brows, placing a hand over her mouth as though she were telling him some kind of secret, " the people that you were willing to sacrifice in order to go play hero for your little girlfriend. Think about what's going to happen to them now that you tried to sneak away from us." Tapping him on the forehead, Izaya chuckled then stepped back, waving at Nakago and his men who took her place back over by the captive.

As she was let out of the cell and made her way out of the dungeon, one of the men still within it shouted one word rather loudly:

" Idiot!"~~~~~

There we are! Another interesting chapter. Baijiu is a type of Chinese liquor btw, typically clear with an alcohol content of 40%-60%. I'll have it known that Izaya has a very high alcohol tolerance and she likes to make fun of drunk people. XD Anyways, read and review please! Let me know what you think! I highly encourage reviewing!


	8. Mess

So I've been away for awhile. . .^^;;; In my defense, my semester consisted of biology, chemistry, physics, and calculus. It was rough going.

With that being said, I wasn't totally inactive in the writing business during that time; I'll try my best to put in a few more chapters before the next semester starts kicking my ass again. If I can manage to keep up with my school and this I will attempt it, but I make no promises.

Also, I would like to address a few comments that I've gotten; you'll notice that I stuck with the spelling of 'Seiryu', 'Kuto', 'Konan', 'Suzaku', etc. A few people have said that the spelling should be different. My answer is: I'm simply too lazy to fix the spelling in the earlier chapters so for consistencies sake I'm just going to keep spelling it wrong. ^^;;; Sorry about that. I apologize for it and any other grammatical mistakes that any of you notice/ come across while reading. I do my best to catch them, but as you could probably guess by my school schedule up there, I am not an English major.

Now, without any further delay, here's the next chapter!

Disclaimer: I do not own Fushigi Yuugi ( if you haven't figured that out already ha ha!) Rin Izaya, however, is mine! Don't steal her!~~~~~~~~~~~

" How's Tamahome?" Nakago prompted as he and Izaya sat down for an evening meal together a few days later. Stiff, Izaya slowly put her chopsticks down. When she raised her head, she was glaring angry.

" Unconscious." she said through her teeth. " STILL." then, muttering, she lowered her head and picked up her chopsticks again. As she cursed, the general simply sat and watched her until she looked up again. Then, he refocused his attention onto his food.

" I said it would take awhile for him to recover." he pointed out, earning a groan from Izaya as she dropped herself down to the floor.

" You didn't say it would be for DAYS!" she moaned, arms and legs kicking at the open air. " It's been three days at least! There's only so much a girl can do in and around the palace and market place!" Nakago didn't roll his eyes, but he was sorely tempted to. Swinging herself back upright, Izaya reached out with her chopsticks in an attempt to grab meat. Raising his eyes, the general gave his priestess a reproachful glare. Sighing, she rolled her eyes, grudgingly taking some vegetables from another plate entirely right afterwards. Satisfied, Nakago turned his attention back to his own meal.

" You were losing interest in him anyways, weren't you?" he asked, eying her carefully for a second. Izaya shrugged.

" A little." she admitted. " I thought he'd be a little more intelligent then his girlfriend; my expectations must be too high. As much as I like winning ethical and philosophical debates, the point is moot if the one I'm debating with doesn't realize how much of an idiot he is." sighing, she shook her head, nibbling on a small piece of vegetable. " The tragic truth is that idiots travel in packs." Taking a drink of the tea that had been served, Nakago watched Izaya closely for a few moments long. Then, he placed an elbow on the table, resting his head against his hand and giving a small smirk.

" Would you like to join my game?" he inquired, and instantly, Izaya froze. There were a few moments where Izaya remained that way, a bit of meat clenched between her chopsticks caught half way between her plate and her mouth. Nakago's smirk grew a bit wider as she seemed to regain her composure only after giving herself a shake. Instead of eating the meat, she set it down, a light in her eyes as she met Nakago's gaze, a smile parting her face.

" That depends," she said, placing her chopsticks on the table and putting both her elbows on the table, lacing her fingers together, " just what is it that you want to me to do for this game of yours?" Nakago didn't miss a beat. Digging into one of the packs at his sides, he pulled out a small packet. Pushing it towards Izaya, the general blinked, seeing the priestess girl eye the object and physically drawing herself away from it when came too close. " Do you know what this is?" he prompted her, the girl glancing up and catching his eyes with her own.

" Not- exactly-" she said slowly, reaching out and tapping her finger against the top of the packet. This seemed to convince her of its safety to a large extent, because she drew it closer, letting it drop from the edge of the table into the palm of her hand. " Where I come from this is the kind of thing you find drugs in; coke, ex, that kind of thing." If she noticed the frown that formed on Nakago's lips she didn't show it, going on to say. " If I had to guess I'd say this is opium?" It was a few seconds before the general seemed to have collected himself well enough to shake his head.

As he explained to her what it was and what it did, Izaya took it in with half shut and wandering eyes. Somewhere in the middle of it, she yawned, picked up her chopsticks, and started eating again. " So this is a drug that lets you take control of someone's mind?" she asked, casually once he'd gotten through his explanation. Exasperated, Nakago rubbed his temples and repeated himself.

" This is no ordinary drug; it's an astral poison." he fought back a deep sigh. " Anyone who consumes it will have their memories dulled and their character altered. Such as turning Tamahome against his companions." Scowling, Izaya gave a dismissive wave of her hand.

" So it's a mind control drug." she echoed her earlier words, not waiting for Nakago's answer before letting out a whistle. " Damn! And I thought drugs in my world were bad." Wrinkling her nose, she got up on her knees, stuffing the little packet into the front pocket of her jeans. Patting it with a hand, she settled back down to eat. " I've got one condition for participating in your game, Na-ka-go." when she said his name slowly, the general froze. Raising his head, he narrowed his eyes, observing her carefully as she took a bite of rice.

" I already gave you the drug." he said in return, not entirely sure what she was getting at.

" Yes, but if you want me to use it on Tamahome you'll let me come explore your room a little later tonight." she retorted, matter-of-fact in tone. Instantly, a snort got out of Nakago, disbelieving. When Izaya kept eating with an even expression on her face, it became painfully clear what she was trying to imply.

" You're serious." he stated and Izaya's downward angled head made her upward facing eyes and little smile look almost devilish in nature. She nodded her head slowly, then lowered her gaze as she spoke.

" Unless you want me to mix the drug in with your food instead of Tama-chan's." she put in, setting down her chopsticks. Propping an elbow on the table, she set her chin in her hand and grinned at him, too sweet. " Or maybe I could just split it in half; the effects might not be as strong, but it would still work well enough for my needs. After all," she eyed him carefully with those steel colored eyes, " I'm pretty persuasive even with people that aren't drugged into a stupor." There was a pause after that, one where they had a staring contest.

" You're still mad about me not mentioning his escape plan to you." he reasoned and Izaya let out a snarky laugh.

" Like offering me a chance to join your game wasn't an attempt to buy me out of my resentment?" she sniffed. " Tough; it's the game and the room that'll win me over. Both, not one or the other." Nakago rolled his eyes.

" Haven't you learned your lesson about going into the rooms of strange men late at night?" he prompted.

" Hey, I'm around you at least an hour or two everyday; that's hardly a stranger in my book." she answered, pointing her index finger at him. Lowering her hands back down, she picked up her chopsticks and focused on her plate. " Besides, you're not like that." Another snort got out of the general.

" You don't know that."

" True," she agreed, smiling brightly this time, " but call it my 'woman's intuition' to think that you would not take advantage of me in such a way." She nodded her head, as though affirming the fact for truth, the Seiryu priestess went right back to eating. It was only after several seconds of staring that Nakago joined her, though the two were silent for the rest of the meal.~~

It was late that evening that the general finished his work. After what had happened at dinner, he had taken it upon himself to have some of his guards standing watch over his room. Knowing Izaya well enough by this point to realize that she wouldn't have bothered asking about his room unless she was hell bent on getting into it, the precaution seemed less about paranoia and more about preventing a potential disaster in the making; at least in his own mind. When he'd told the two guards they had both given him unnerved expressions and exchanged a glance, that was until the general had hit them both with an even glare. They had sharpened up and gone to work after that. Nakago was going to relieve them of duty for the night before getting some rest himself.

He soon wished he hadn't done any of this.

Nothing seemed out of the ordinary except for the missing guards until he was only a few feet from the room. It was at that point that the sound of something shattering to pieces had stopped him in his tracks. There was a brief moment of pause then, one where the general considered just turning back around pretending as though he hadn't heard anything. However, not more then a few seconds later the thudding of something heavy falling over had jolted him into motion. Closing the space in seconds, he whipped open the door.

The entire room had been trashed. Tables turned over and chairs flat on their backs, it was lucky that his bookshelf had been attached to the wall; otherwise it would have been on the floor like everything else. Though, that said nothing about the contents of said bookshelf. All of his books, scrolls, even just spare paper, had been scattered about his room, bent and angled in whatever way that they had landed when they had been knocked out of place.

Izaya, along with the two guards that he had instructed to keep her out of his room earlier, were there as well; the apparent cause of the destruction.

Standing at three different corners of the room, all of their eyes were focused upward. They were panting. Clinging to the highest book shelf on his wall was the bird that Nakago kept, feathers fluffed up and wings raised as though it were warding off some predator. It let out a squawk and folded its wings against its side, arching its neck back to prune a few of its feathers.

" DON'T MOVE!" the priestess hollered when one of the two men started to shift forward, both guards freezing and sending side long glances at Izaya in the way that Nakago recognized. They were waiting for her instruction on what to do. None of them had noticed that the general had appeared; which was probably what prompted the next turn of events.

" WHAT IN THE-?!" he began to shout, three human heads and one bird head twisting his way.

" NAKAGO!" Izaya interrupted, jumping over one of the fallen tables in order to get to him, arching her neck to get a look at the bird. The animal was already on the move, spreading its wings and leaning forward against the book case. " SHUT THE DOOR!" Grabbing him by his scarf, the priestess yanked the general out of the way, all but throwing him to the floor. She slammed the door shut just after the bird took off from its perch.

With its escape route blocked, the white feathered creature swerved away, Izaya rushing after it. Reaching the overturned table a second time, she stepped up onto it, using it like a spring board. Leaping into the air with both hand outstretched and mere inches away from the animal's sides, she caught it. She pulled the bird to her chest as she toppled to the floor, hitting hard into a set of books and rolling several feet before coming to a stop.

Then, there was a stillness. The two guards exchanged a quick glance before the priestess girl raised a hand. " GOT IT!" she exclaimed, only sitting up when she had both of her hands around the bird, holding down its folded wings. The tension in the soldier's shoulders eased away and they smiled. Izaya situated the animal in her one arm and waved the two guards over to where she was. Grinning, she slapping them each once, none too gently, on the back. " Nice work, guys. Thanks."

" Good catch." one of them said and they laughed.

" Yeah," when Nakago's voice entered into the air all three of them stiffened and what laughter was still coming out of them became strained, strangled, " a VERY good catch."

That they received the scolding of a life time afterward shouldn't have surprised any of them. When asked to explain themselves, the general was further outraged; Izaya had, somehow, convinced both men that Nakago had given her permission to come in to his room. Even though he had told both men the complete opposite before sending them. From there everything had spiraled downward. The Seiryu priestess had unlatched the bird's cage, the guards had insisted she put the creature back, the bird had flown away, and the rest of the time had been spent on recapturing it. Izaya had scolded his guards for not keeping their focus on the bird and so any destruction that had followed had been ignored.

" Oh, don't make such a fuss, Nakago," the priestess sniffed, completely interrupting the general's verbal lashing of the three of them, " we'll clean everything up. It's not as though we broke anything. Jeez."

Glaring, the blonde leered at her the way he did his soldiers during training. She didn't meet his eyes, lips formed into a poute as she looked at the far wall of the room. Closing the gap between the two of them with a single, long stride, the general put himself squarely in front of her. Izaya faced forward when he did this and he pointed at her, stern faced as he said. " I'll deal with you later." There was a brief pause then, one where the priestess girl stared steadily into the general's face.

Then, a little smirk tugged at her lips. Taking a half step forward, she had the two of them chest to chest, rounded breasts touching the blonde man's armor. The one hand she didn't have around the bird she placed on her hip.

" I look forward to it." she answered him, so close that Nakago felt her breath warm against his face as she said these soft words. Puckering up as though to kiss him, she snickered as she stepped back without her mouth touching his.

When she turned her head didn't move with her, twisted so that as she started to walk away she was grinning over her shoulder at the general. She finally looked away when she passed by the two guards, both of whom were slack jawed and wide eyed. " Come on guys. Let's clean up."

They did the clean up just like she said that they would. But somehow, as he leaned against the window sill and over saw their work, the general couldn't help feeling irritable. What should have been work looked more like play with Izaya at the reins. Ordering his two soldiers around, she had them separate papers and books in alternating piles along the outside wall of the room. At first it didn't seem like such a game; until they a short time into their pick up. Once they'd begun to clear a small portion of floor space, the Seiryu priestess began jumping from open space to open space to get across the room. The soldiers offered to take books and pages for her, but she refused, purposefully going from one side of the room to the other. She refused anything that the men attempted to hand to her, but she would sometimes snatch what they were carrying when they weren't expecting it.

As more floor space opened up, they weren't even attempting to help one another do the work. In fact, they were constantly stealing from each other, running away in order to place what they had taken into the designated piles themselves. The more that got sorted into piles, the more competitive it became. They searched under and over anything that they could, moving tables and chairs back into place in order to search for papers and books that they may have missed.

Except for Izaya, who made it a point after a certain length of time to simply wait for the other two to find something before doing what she called a "hit and run"; snatching what they'd discovered and rushing away with it. When only a forth of the papers and books were left, she made things even more violent, tackling one of the guards to the ground and scrambling to pick up the book and get to her feet at the same time. From then on it was all out war, the three of them going at each other without mercy.

So when all but one paper had been sorted into its proper place, the three of them were sprinting and dodging around each other, shouting like children. Izaya and the one guard plotting against the second, cornering him behind Nakago's desk. He looked side to side, trying to decide who had a better chance of overpowering. However, in that moment, the Seiryu priestess took the chance, leaping ontop of the desk and stealing the page away with a quick move.

" Traitor!" her former partner called as she ran and leaped off the desk. Hitting the ground she stumbled, rolling up onto her feet and continuing across the room at a run. She managed to drop the paper into it's proper place before either one of them caught up to her.

That didn't stop either of them from throwing themselves at her when they got close enough to. Laughing, they had proceeded to wrestle until the general had drawn their attention by clearing his throat. Both men had jumped upright, staring at their feet, abashed by their behavior most likely. The Seiryu priestess had stayed on the floor, grinning at up at Nakago, the corner of her lips stretching a bit higher up then the other.

" Alright," she said, getting up, dusting off the back of her jeans then the front of them before straightening up, " back to work, gentlemen." waving her hand at them, directing them each to a wall and getting everything in order.

Sending one to deal with putting all of the papers in their proper place, Izaya had convinced the second one to let her stand on his shoulders. With a pile of books beside the big man, he handed up one after another, allowing the priestess to put them into place on the shelf. That was, until the upper three shelves had been filled. Then she had simply hopped off the soldier's shoulders and waved for him to continue. Crossing the room, she spared a glance at the second man, whom was deep into fixing the pages. Then, her gray eyes shifted onto the Kuto general, baring her teeth in a wide grin that she aimed half at the floor and half at the blonde man. With his arms crossed, he turned his attention else where, focusing his eyes beyond the window sill. Hearing her giggle after that point just added to the fire already raging within him.

The priestess' path veered off momentarily, and the change in direction caught the general's attention. Her new path stirred her toward the bird cage. She had placed the feathered creature inside while she was helping clean the room, but she had apparently decided it was time to let the animal out again. For the moment the general sat back, eying her carefully, ready to give Izaya hell if she turned his lounge into pig pen for a second time. He stood by, watching as she slipped her hand inside the bars. She didn't grab at the creature, simply laying her hand out her palm facing upward. Then the priestess was still.

As she waited, Nakago was struck by the irony. Compared to before, the way she waited for the bird to move first seemed out of place. It was a startling difference. Though, this didn't surprise him near as much as what happened only a short time after. The bird had been pecking and biting at her fingers for only a short time. Then it simply hopped right into her hand; no fussing, no fluttering or loud squawking, not even the lightest sound of protest. One jump into the palm of her hand and the creature settled down as though it were sitting in its home made nest. Though its plummage overwhelmed her fingers, the smile that parted Izaya's face then was warm, genuine.

" There's a good boy," she murmured to it, slowly backing up, drawing her hand out of the cage, taking the bird with her, " easy now; it's okay. I won't let you hit your head." true to her word, she managed to avoid hitting the outer rimes of the open door to the cage. " There we go." she continued to talk to it, bring it to eye level with herself. The creature made a low chirp and the priestess girl grinned. " Would you like to sit on my shoulder? View's better there, you know?" she offered and as though to agree with her, the animal stepped out of her hand, shifting until it's white feathered cheek was almost always touching Izaya's cheek. Lifting a hand, she stroked at the bird's chest with the back of her index finger, turning and walking toward the general once again.

When she caught his eyes in the midst of pampering over the creature, Nakago had been quick to look away, annoyed all over again with her.

" Awe! You're mad at me." she commented as she came up beside him, only able to get one eye onto the blonde man thanks to her little companion. The priestess stiffened as the feathered creature walked across the back of her neck in order to situate itself on her opposite shoulder, the one that wasn't as close to the general. Izaya, of course, took the opportunity to laugh about this, once again shifting her index finger through the front feathers. " Fickle little thing, isn't he? Drama boy right here." she jerked her head at the animal. It began nipping and pecking at the silver that covered her ears, but if it bothered her to any large degree it didn't show in the dark haired girl's face. Leaning against the window sill, she gazed out into the garden, humming lightly. They were quiet for a time, but it didn't last long.

" Neh, neh, Nakago?" Izaya prompted, the general not giving her the pleasure of seeing his face. Leaning over, she tried to meet his eyes but was denied. A giggle escaped her again and instead of focusing on Nakago, Izaya looked back out the window. She went right on talking as though he had answered her. " Have you ever heard the saying 'If you love me, let me go'?" There was a brief pause; then the blonde soldier spared the dark haired girl a glance. This time, she didn't even try to meet his eyes. Index finger half curled, she stroked the bird's chest gently without looking at it, the creature making a small "churring" sound from somewhere in the back of it's throat. " It's a real popular saying in my world. For parents, you know, letting there kids go out into the world on their own for the first time." she rolled her eyes, voice dralled with a blandent scorn. If she noticed Nakago's long stare at her in that moment, the young priestess didn't show it, taking the bird in both hands and holding it for a few seconds. " It's all supposed to be so heart warming and sad and all that good dramatic nonsense."

Taking a step back, she gave the bird one more fond stroke with her hand. Then she thrust the creature out the window. The animal didn't need an invitation, spreading its wings, it took to the skies, tweeting with delight as it went. Didn't show any signs of turning back, climbing higher and higher into the skies until it disappeared from sight. Turning to look at the dark haired girl, the general saw a smile spread across her face. Stepping forward, she placed her elbows on the window sill, leaning forward. Her eyelids were half shut, gray eyes dulled as though she were bored as she gazed at the spot where the bird had dissolved from view. As Nakago stared at her, she continued to not meet his eyes and talk.

" But, if you ask me, that's complete bull shit." were the words that came out of her mouth, body sunken down so that it seemed as though the majority of her weight was held by her forearms against the open sill. " What kind of idiot would let go of something that they care about so much? Name it as something they 'love' and let it get away without a fight, like air," she waved a hand out the window, letting it bounce at the wrist for a few seconds until it fell still on its own, " like its nothing. That stupid saying is just an excuse; a bit of half assed sugar coating to make parents feel better and to give kids a way of running away from their responsibilities and duties to the aging generation."

"Oh, I get it," she insisted, pointing a finger at the blonde general, " it's about letting the younger people find their way in the world. Letting them learn more about who they are and what they want to be and all that stuff, but," lowering her hand, her voice dropped in volume a few degrees, softening as she finished, " you know when I find something that I really love like that, I'm not going to ever let it go. No matter what anyone else says about it." A silence followed these words.

Watching her for a time, Nakago couldn't help noticing how steadily she gazed out at the world beyond the window sill. Eyes half shut, mouth drawn into a thin line, a breeze tossed what little of her hair it could get a hold on. At the very edges of her sleeve, he could make out a few of the black lines that made up the very tip of the nose on the dragon tattoo that lay underneath it. Even in the darkness, the silver hoops and cuffs on her ears shown between her thready hair. She was a small girl, but in that moment, she seemed anything but tiny.

" Hump," the general scoffed after a second, a corner of his lip twisting upward into a smirk, turning so that his back rested against a portion of the inner part of the sill, allowing him to face the Seiryu priestess, " you're as selfish as always." Glancing over, she blinked at him, blank faced. The confusion didn't stay on her features long, and she rocked forward and back as her lips parted, forming into a smirk of her own.

" Damn straight." she snapped back, lightly, standing up to full height. Facing him, she said. " I am sorry about the mess; if those guys hadn't scared your bird it wouldn't have happened." Nakago shut his eyes, mouth forming into a firm line.

" Pinning the blame on them won't get you out of your punishment." he stated, matter-of-fact.

" AHHH-!"~~~~~~~

Well, that's the end of this chapter. After the last chapter I kind of felt the need to show a little bit of a nicer side to Izaya or well, as nice as she can be I guess. As far as OCs that I've come up with, she's probably the one most "on the fence" morally. I really hope she's coming across as fun to read about as she has been to write about so far. ^^;;; Let me know what you think! Send a review! XD Enjoy the holidays everyone!


	9. Fate

Good news, bad news time everybody. Good news: here's another chapter for you! :D Bad news: my next school semester started this past monday. :( I'll have a bit of extra time this semester so I'm hoping I can manage to get chapters up while I go, but don't hold your breath. T-T Rest assured, I will do my utmost to get you chapters!

So, without any further delay, here's the next chapter!

(Oh wait, disclaimer! I don't own anything except Izaya!)~~~~

It was only two days later that Tamahome finally awakened and Izaya couldn't have been happier about it. The day after he had woken up she had gone right back to bringing him meals and their regular conversations. There where four days were it seemed like "business as usual" for the priestess and the Suzaku warrior turned hostage. Though more irritable then before his escape attempt, Tamahome accepted his role as "guest" as Izaya continued to act as hostess to him, begrudging.

" Boo!" Izaya exclaimed, hopping her way through the threshold of the room in one of her regular visits with him. Finding her guest sitting by the window sill, Tamahome turned his attention towards his hostess as she shut the door lightly behind herself. He rolled his eyes, turning back to the window.

" Don't you have anyone else to bother?" he inquired, stiffly and Izaya let out a laugh.

" No. That would be why I asked Nakago to bring you here in the first place." she replied, crossing the room, standing a few meters away from where Tamahome sat on the window sill. Leaning to the side, she glanced out the window herself, eyes shifting side to side, observing the branches that reached out to touch the window from the outside with a steady eye. The Suzaku warrior wrinkled his nose, sitting bolt upright and stiff.

" 'Asked Nakago to bring me here'?" he echoed back these words, gazing at the Seiryu priestess who did her utmost to avoid his eyes. " You mean this was all your idea?! Bringing me here, threatening my family-"

" Hey, hey!" Izaya cut him off, scowling, pointing a finger at him. " Don't you go making assumptions about people!" digging into her back pocket, she pulled out her pocket knife, flipping the blade up and holding it up, pointed squarely at Tamahome's chest. " It's not very nice, neh?" Tamahome's eyes moved from the knife to Izaya's face and back again. After several seconds, the smile returned to the priestess' face and taking a step back, she withdrew the knife, gazing at the tip of it. One of her fingers slide along the blunt side, tracing the dulled gray edge. " Even if I did suggest the idea, the only one who did any threatening was Nakago and his men, not me." Shutting the blade swiftly, she turned a glare on Tamahome as she added. " I didn't tell him to threaten the lives of anyone; that's all his own doing. I already told you that I dislike violence, Tama-chan!" The Suzaku warrior snorted, crossing his arms and getting to his feet.

" So says the girl with a blade in her pants." he pointed out. After a few seconds of holding eye contact with her guest, a smirk tugged at the priestess' face. Turning, she flipped open the switch blade, shutting it, repeating this process over and over again as she started to pace.

" I'm a realist, Tama-chan." Izaya said, not looking at him, flicking the blade out and pausing. Slowly, she turned the open blade around in a circle, the sleek, sharpened edge gleaming in the sunlight that leaked through the window. " Just because I dislike violence doesn't mean I can't get caught up in it. Only an idiot would believe he can protect himself without a weapon or a little self defense training." Reaching out, she placed her other hand against the blunt edge, dragging the knife back until it disappeared behind the wooden hilt, the safety clicking into place. Glancing over her shoulder at him, she raised a brow, mouth twisted upward as a fire brought on a storm in those gray irises. " It's the same for you, isn't it?" There was a pause then, one where the Suzaku warrior eyed the Seiryu priestess in a way that most did mad men; shifting as though there were insects crawling all across his skin and eyes taking careful observation of the nearest escape root. He took several steps away from her until there was a meter and a half of space between them.

Finally, she tucked her switch blade back into her back pocket, stepping over to the window. She only looked outside for a second, then turned around leaning against the sill and looking down at the floor. In that moment, the wildness dwindled away, leaving only steel in those eyes. The silence stretched between them until, finally, Izaya nodded to herself. " So, you have a family?" her voice was light, leisurely, or as leisurely as she could make it sound after that awkward quiet. There was another pause, one where Tamahome frowned, narrowing his eyes as he looked at the priestess girl. She never made eye contact, rubbing the top of her left shoulder with her hand and tilting her head to the side, attempting to stretch her neck.

Finally, he shrugged. " What of it?" Izaya shrugged back at him once she let her hand fall back to her side and straightened her head.

" Just curious," she replied, " I'm betting you're the kind that has a lot of siblings, right?" Blinking, the Suzaku's muscles all loosened as he turned his focus onto her.

" Hey, yeah," he answered, stepping a little closer, " how did you know?"

" Guessed." she said with a sharp laugh when her guest crossed his arms and pouted at her. Pointing at him, she insisted. " Do I look that smart to you, Tama-chan?" he didn't answer her right away, looking away for a second.

" That's a trick question." he stated after a few moments and Izaya lost it, throwing her head back, laughing long and loud. " You might not look or act it, but you're actually really smart," Tamahome went on once his hostess had calmed herself down enough to hear him, " that's what I think." shutting her mouth, she gazed at him with the most genuine smile that the Suzaku warrior had ever seen her wear. Not a word escaped her, and when she went on she left that compliment completely unanswered.

" And you were willing to sacrifice all of them for the sake of playing 'hero' for that little girlfriend of yours," she said, breaking eye contact, turning so that she was facing the window, " that's a rather unpleasant impression to leave behind, don't you think, Tama-chan?" that had renewed all the hostility that the boy had for the priestess.

" I don't have to prove myself to you or anyone here." he snapped back and Izaya smiled.

" True, but you do have to prove yourself to a lot of other people out there." her answer was cool and immediate. " Not only as a celestial warrior, but as a friend, son, brother, and boyfriend." Raising her index finger she looked over at him, but didn't move away from the window. " And let me tell you that you have failed at at least three of those trying to escape from here." shaking her head, the priestess girl let out a long exhale. " Why you go so far for the likes of Miaka is beyond me."

" What do you mean 'for the likes of Miaka'?!" Tamahome insisted hotly." I love her! Isn't that reason enough for me to want to help her?!" It was then that Izaya finally turned to face him. Planting herself firmly on both feet, she planted a hand on her hip as she rolled her eyes.

" Please!" she scoffed, voice heavy and dark. " How long have you even KNOWN her?" when Tamahome opens up his mouth to answer, Izaya blows through his words with her own. " A couple of days, and then you were apart for three months. Christ, do you even know anything about who she is or where she's from?" Raising her brows, she waited for him to answer.

" She eats more then her own weight in food everyday." he stated, and Izaya instantly started laughing.

" Don't sound too proud of that, Tama-chan! People might start thinking that you've been dating a pig, not a girl." she retorted and Tamahome scowled in return, crossing his arms. Once she finished her laughter, Izaya gave a dismissive wave of her hand. " I could've told you that about her and I only met her for a couple hours that one day she showed up here out of fucking nowhere." Gray eyes sparkling, she crossed her arms and held Tamahome's eyes, raising a brow." Try again, bird brain."

" She's super strong." he said.

" Again, not something to shout proudly to the hill tops. Your girlfriend will be mistake for a pig." shrugging her shoulders, Izaya added. " And again something I could tell you about her and I don't know or like her." Tamahome growled, a fire lighting up his eyes. He was answered with a cool icy glare in return. " Come on, Tama-chan, you aren't even making this hard for me." Raising an index finger, she jumped then, suddenly chipper as she said. " Ah! I get it! You need help!" The Suzaku warrior's jaw dropped, but as he opened his mouth to protest once again, Izaya interjected before he could get out a single word. " How about her family; she got any siblings to speak of? Are her mother and father still together or are they separated? Does she get along with the both of them or even one of them?" she hummed at him, finally giving him a chance to speak up.

" Then what about you, huh?!" he snapped back, Izaya blinking at him in befuddlement. " What do you know about your celestial warriors?!"

" That's irrelevant." she stated, bland.

" How so?!" Tamahome insisted, and Izaya crossed her arms again.

" I'm not claiming to have fallen in love with anybody." were the words that she snapped at him. Seeing the look on his face, she rolled her eyes again and shook her head. " Figures. The moron finds another moron to shack up with. People like you two really piss me off." For the moment Tamahome's anger had quelled enough to simply growl and glare at Izaya for those comments.

" Yeah? Why's that?" he prompted and Izaya threw her head up and laughed. No, it was a cackle, and when she turned to face him once again, shaking her head, there was a sickening grin on her lips. Placing a hand on her mouth, she shook her head, snickering again. Then she turned her eyes away from him, laughed some more, and when she finally calmed herself she glanced up and sneered at him

" Where do I begin?" she inquired in return, then straightened her shoulders, leaning back and rubbing her chin. Looking him up and down, Tamahome felt as though a carnivorous animal was sizing him up, judging how best to get its fangs around his throat. As she crossed the room, she grabbed a chair and dragged it behind herelf, the legs of it screeching against the floor until she thrust it into place squarely in front of Tamahome's bed. She waved for him to sit down, but when he didn't follow along she shrugged her shoulders. She placed an elbow on the back of the chair, resting an index finger against the bridge of her nose for a moment as she gazing at him, ever intent with her gray eyes.

" You're the type of person who has a one track mind." She reached out for him, but the two weren't nearly close enough for her to touch him and the invitation for physical contact went unanswered. " Oh, you get through things, crazy, terrible shit even," she gave a wave of her hand, nonchalant, refocusing her eyes on Tamahome as she went on to say," but that's only because you focus your entire person on it and nothing else. There's no other way for you to live. People like you put their entire attention on something at that very moment, and on that alone." Tamahome frowned, shifting and finally stepping forward. He sat down on the bed that he had been given while acting as hostage in Kuto. The instant he was seated though, he leaned back, away from Izaya, which only drew a smile wide across her face. Narrowing his eyes, he was silent for a few seconds.

" And that's not a good thing?" he prompted her. Izaya removed her elbow from the chair back, sitting up properly, albeit backward in her chair.

" Not at all," she replied, crossing her arms, " I never said that it was a bad quality to have. I'm saying that it pisses me off." the Suzaku warrior scowled, crossing his arms too and continuing to glare at Izaya. " People like you survive the worst shit the world can throw at you, making people like me, who struggle to do these sorts of things because of a more complicated thought process, look like a bunch of wusses who can't do a thing for ourselves." He blinked and stared blankly at her, which had Izaya rolling her eyes, and she turned her eyes away, staring at the door. " I prefer you over that silly girlfriend of yours."

" What?" Tamahome spoke up in protest abruptly, which brought a smirk across Izaya's face. Swinging herself back around to face, Tamahome, her smirk only grew all the more and her eyes zeroed in on him like a jackal on a carcass.

" Oh? Touch a nerve, did I?" she prompted, voice low, holding an almost hiss like after tone to it as she spoke. The Suzaku warrior was silent, however, Izaya bounced up and down in her chair for a moment and let out a laugh, leaning back in her chair once she'd finished and observed Tamahome with narrowed eyes. " You know, she's probably one of the types of people that I hate the most, although," she frowned and thought out loud, " that's a rather long list, so that might not be saying much." For a moment, she seemed to consider her own words. Then, she gave her head a shake and leered over at the Suzaku warrior. He held her with an equally heated gaze, one that sent a shiver running up the Seiryu priestess' spine. Wiggling her shoulders,  
she was more then ready to start ripping the only other priestess in the world to shreds.

" I've known girls like your little Miaka before; petty, childish people that hold a type of purity that can attract flocks of people to them like honey bees to a flower. She doesn't live an untroubled life," Izaya shook her head, though there were hints of mockery in her voice that reappeared on her face in the form of a deep scowl, " but she wouldn't know real hardship if it bit her in the ass." Theatrically, she raised her hands to rub her cheeks and when she spoke her voice contained a forced hiccup. " Wah, wah, wah! My life is so terrible! I can't find a boyfriend and my parents are jerks and blah, blah, blah!" her play faded with the last three words and she straightened up and promptly spat on the ground, crossing her arms. A deep scowl contorted her lips and her entire face followed its example, glaring eyes and downward turned brows indicating an expression of utter anger and disgust. " People like her take what they have for granted; for someone like me, who lived and is living a rougher life then she ever will and still manages to find the good in it, her type of ignorance- no, her utter idiocy is unforgiveable."

" So you hate her for being a little pessimistic?!" Tamahome snarled back. Izaya promptly threw her head back and laughed at him. Growling, the Suzaku warrior watched as the Seiryu priestess laughed away. Slowly lowering her head, still chuckling, she placed her hand against her lip, shaking her head, gray eyes sparkling when they fell on Tamahome once again.

" Pessimistic he says!" she exclaimed to nobody, shaking her head continuously as she said. " No, Tamahome," an honest earnestness tinted her tone and she leaned towards him once again, finally allowing her head to still, " I don't hate her for being 'pessimistic'." pausing, she held his gaze steadily with her own as she finished. " I hate her for being who she is; for having everything that I don't. She's a simple, petulant girl with the world at her finger tips, but she's too stupid to realize it." These words did little to detour his way of thinking, apparent by the lack there of change in his stubborn, glaring eyes. Frowning, Izaya got up, twisting her chair around and sitting down again, this time in the proper fashion.

" It doesn't matter," Tamahome spoke up then, catching Izaya's attention, " what you think of her or us. Fate brought the two of us together and I love her. That's all that matters." Smiling, he placed a hand over his heart, a contented expression on his face. A short silence followed these words.

Then Izaya gave a loud snort.

" You almost made a little sense there." she scoffed at him as Tamahome raised his eyes to stare at her once again. " But then you had to go bring in that fate nonsense."

" What-?!" Tamahome began to protest, but Izaya sent such a seething glare in his direction that his voice caught in his throat. A smile touched her lips, long, twisted.

" You know, I really don't understand how anyone could believe in such a thing." she began shaking her head." This 'fate', this thing that controls all, that brings people together, that tears them apart." sniffing, she leaned over and spat on the floor. " What spiritual dribble. A five year old could come up with something more interesting then that." Tamahome only seemed bewildered by what she was saying and Izaya rolled her eyes, straightening her back. " If you ask me, your 'fate' claim is just nonsense to try and make yourselves feel special. It's you trying to make your meeting with her into something more then it is; a simple coincidence." She was met with a jaw dropped, wide eyed stare from the Suzaku warrior at that point.

" How can you, of all people, think that?!" he insisted, pointing an accusing finger at her. " You came here from another world just like Miaka did! And you think this all just happened by coincidence?!" Abruptly, Izaya let out an exasperated sigh, allowing her limbs to dangle like noddles off the chair, as well as dropping her head against the back of the chair. After a second of this, she raised her head yet again, glaring at Tamahome as she did so.

" Don't use your fucking ears much, do you?" she inquired, shaking her head before placing a hand on her temple. Rubbing her forehead tenderly, she went on. " I just told you that your precious little Miaka and I are nothing alike, or did you not catch the hint?" Then, she straitened her posture, crossing her arms under her breasts. " Besides, what does coming from another world have to do with anything? There's no rule that says that I have to believe in fate if I'm from another place. What kind of fucked up logic is that?" Scowling, Tamahome glared right back at Izaya.

" So all of this, you, Miaka, the legends about the priestesses that we have here in this world, all of it just happened to fall into place, like some kind of puzzle?" he insisted. In response, Izaya shrugged of her shoulders, nonchalant.

" The gods of this world, that exist across all planes, have a part to play in all of this," she answered back, " it's only because of them that your legends even exist or what led me to come to this world in the first place. However, that isn't fate." raising an index finger she added. " It's the intervention of deities with enormous power. Why these gods chose Miaka and I for these roles, I won't even pretend to understand, but that has nothing to do with your supposed 'fate'."

Then she placed a hand over her heart and said. " No matter the gods, it was my choice to come to this world in the first place and it was my choice to take on the role of the priestess. As far as I'm concerned, my desicions are my own, and so there is nothing that can control where I am and what the future holds for me but me myself." Lifting her eyes, she gazed intently at Tamahome, giving a small smirk at him. The Suzaku warrior, perhaps a bit creeped out by Izaya's expression, backed up on the bed a small distance.

" So you can take your silly fate and shove it up your ass."~~

Later that same evening, Izaya did as she did every night, brought Tamahome his meal with fullest intention of engaging in more conversation that would only frustrate and anger her beloved guest all the more. Recalling the earlier conversation that had happened before, Izaya couldn't keep a little grin off of her face. As she approached the door leading to the room that Tamahome was staying in, she slowed to a stop. She could hear him talking aloud.

Wondering vaguely if he was beginning to go crazy, being forced to stay inside for so long and everything, Izaya only needed to take two steps closer to realize that his was not the only voice echoing into her ears from behind those closed doors. Blinking, she inched a bit closer, placing her back to the sliding door and simply standing there, listening in on his conversation.

" Perfect! Tomorrow night at 12 o'clock!" Izaya wrinkled her nose, recognizing the obnoxious tone of voice as her fellow priestess, Miaka. " We are going to finally be able to meet!"

" Miaka. . ." Tamahome's voice was low, soft, the kind of enduring voice that lovers used to sweet talk each other on the way to bed. Sticking out her tongue, Izaya was about to burst in to interrupt the two of them when the next words that came caught her by surprise.

" Tama-home?" it was Miaka again, the tone of her voice unmistakably concerned. Freezing with her hand on the door, Izaya waited. " Is- something wrong?" the Suzaku priestess spoke slowly, tentative. There was a long silence after that, one where Izaya couldn't hear a thing. Not Tamahome's or Miaka's voices, not the creaking of the floor boards or even the gentle shuffle of clothe. Izaya held her breath, patient, mind racing.

" It's- nothing." he managed to get out of his body. Another short pause followed, then Tamahome spoke again, quickly, as though Miaka were about to leave him. " Miaka," he paused part way, then spoke softly and more slowly as he went on, " is it really alright? Between us?"

" Eh?" was Miaka's brilliant answer, giving a nervous laugh as she said.

" Of course it is, Tamahome. Why wouldn't it be?" there was another silence, one where Izaya could feel the small amount of tension that was in the air between the two love birds from just outside the door.

" It's just, I've been thinking, " hearing these words, Izaya rolled her eyes thinking _that's a first_, " we barely know each other, Miaka. We've only actually known each other for a few days."

" Huh?! Tamahome, why are you bringing this up now?"

" Well if not now then when?!" he snapped back, Izaya recognizing the hot undertone of his voice.

As the two continued to bicker lightly back and forth, Izaya was desperately trying to keep herself under control. She had to physically put down the tray that was meant for Tamahome on the floor so she could clamp both of her hands over her mouth. This was all in an almost vain effort to contain her laughter; to avoid revealing herself to the two of them. She hit her knees, curling up on her side, laughing silently as tears began streaming down her face.

Somewhere mid-sentence, Miaka's voice cut off and there was nothing but silence to follow it. Izaya didn't notice it at first, too busy writhing in utter glee in a little bundle on the floor. As her legs stopped kicking and her began to mop her cheeks, her mind began trying to piece together what had cut the girl off so suddenly. She couldn't figure it out even if she actually felt the need to do so. No, all the priestess of Seiryu did was attempt to pull herself together.

Slowly but surely, she managed this, a wide grin on her face as she finally picked up the tray of food and making her way into Tamahome's room. She found him knelt down on the floor, his head bowed and hands clenched on his knees. The Seiryu priestess' entrance had startled him apparently, because he jumped. Turning around swiftly, he glared at her, letting his posture droop to one of supposed leisure. Izaya took it with a grin, holding up the tray and moving to place it on the table.

" Meal time, Tama-chan!" she giggled, girlish, Tamahome raising a brow as he got to his feet and moved to take a seat in his usual place. The frown on his lips and glare in his eyes never left, and he sat down. Izaya simply smiled, making her way for the door.

" Not interested in your usual banter?" Tamahome prompted just as she reached the door. Standing in the door frame, Izaya took a moment before glancing over her shoulder, a delicate smirk playing across her lips.

" Nah," she said with a nonchalant wave of her hand, " I think I've tormented you enough for one day." Turning, she grabbed the doorknob from outside of the door, leaning in, that smile still broad across her face.

" Have a good night, Tamahome." then, she shut the door and walked down the hall, holding in her laughter only long enough to get completely out of the Suzaku warriors earshot.

As she leaned, laughing against the wall, Nakago noticed her, turning and blinking at her, a blank expression coloring his face. The men that were with him exchanged glances and a few murmurs, but otherwise shrugged their shoulders, as confused as their general. Approaching the young priestess cautiously, Nakago leaned, attempting to get a better look into her face.

" Lady Izaya?" he prompted, sounding almost nervous. " Is everything alright?" Abruptly, she threw herself at the general. Instantly stiffening, he stood stock still as she continued to laugh hysterically. The men around him where giving gasps and whistles, a quick glare from Nakago cutting off the grinning, happier exclamations from the air. It was then that one of Izaya's arms, having first been thrown over his shoulders, slid down. She began punching his chest and none too gently either. It didn't bother him; the breast plate of the general's armor absorbing all of the pain or discomfort it might have caused him otherwise.

" Just when I thought there was no hope for that idiot bird-!" she managed to get out of her system before giggling onward, her fist moving mechanically as she pounded it against his armor. Considering her words and actions for a second, realization hit Nakago abruptly just as Izaya was calming her fit of laughter, standing on her own once again.

" Oh?" he prompted, raising a brow, crossing his arms as he gazed at her steadily. " Your show has finally gotten interesting?" grinning, she seemed to glow, beaming as she nodded her head eagerly in return.

" Finally!" she exclaimed, throwing her arms to full length and spinning around. " It took long enough, but the show has finally picked up!" Watching her, Nakago's brows dropped and his eyelids dropped to half shut.

Stopping, Izaya looked into his face for only a second before reaching out, tapping him on the nose with her index finger. " It's too bad the climax is coming tomorrow night though," she sighed, looking away as the general's once lazy eyes snapped back to attention, " those feather heads really have bad timing; though I guess I should thank them for giving me the a real good laugh." Turning from Nakago and his small troop, she dipped her hand into a pocket, pulling out the astral-poison that the general had given to her a few days ago. " I'll be dumping this into his breakfast tomorrow, so if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go to bed." Then, slipping the poison back into her pocket, she skipped away, humming a tune.~~~~

TA-DAH! There it is! I know there was a lot of just Izaya talking all this chapter. . .and apologize for it. I couldn't stop her! T_T She demanded talk time and, as many of you have probably noticed, she is quite a chatter box. Still, things are moving along and we should see more of Miaka and some of the Suzaku warriors in the next chapter. Look forward to it! In the mean time, favorite and review! Let me know that you're here and reading!


	10. Sparrows

I've got good and bad news. Bad news is. . .I went back to school about four weeks ago. T_T It's keeping me busy to say the least. The good news in. . .this is a two for one deal for chapters! That's right, not along am I done with this chapter but also the next one! I wrote out this last section and it was either going to be one looooooooooong chapter or two semi-short chapters. I don't know about any of you, but I like shorter chapters, so I split it up. Since I have them both done, I'm posting them at the same time.

I tried to stick with the basic story with the occasional Izaya twist mixed in. Please enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own Fushigi Yuugi; Rin Izaya is mine though!~~~~~

Miaka was nervous. Shifting, she glanced up at the tree, then over her shoulder at her two companions. Chichiri and Tasuki were both looking around, shuffling their feet. They looked just as uneasy as she was. Where was Tamahome? It was already passed the time that they had planned on meeting. Could something have gone wrong? The Suzaku priestess thought back to the statue; the one that Nuriko had given her that had broken in half. No! No, no, no that didn't mean anything; she gave herself a shake.

" Maybe he got scared." Tasuki's voice filled the silence, his eyes half shut, somewhere between bored and irritated.

" Tamahome isn't a coward!" Miaka snapped, the red haired warrior backing up a step. Ignoring him for the moment, the girl folded her hands and shut her eyes. She imagined Tamahome coming out of the brush, the warrior looking abashed as he apologized for being late. Praying for this, the Suzaku priestess tried desperately to hold back the memories of the statue split into two equal halves until the sound of rustling leaves reached her ears.

" Tamahome?!" she spun around fast.

" OH! So close!" with a hand on her hip, the dark head of hair and gray pair of eyes that fell on her from across spear edges was not the one that Miaka had been hoping to see. " But sadly," the lightness of Izaya's tone dropped abruptly, " wrong." The hope that had built up in the Suzaku priestess' heart in the moments before had been cut down. Pit of her stomach falling out, the fear that came over her was something that the her female counterpart seemed to pick up on right away. A smirk colored the Seiryu priestess face and she cocked an eyebrow, her hip popped to the side. " For someone who contracted a deadly disease, you're looking remarkably healthy; when I heard you were coming, I thought for sure you would look at least a little tired, but apparently I expect too much of the world." sighing, Izaya shook her head. After shrugging her shoulders, she took a brief glance over at Nakago and the small collection of soldiers gathered around her. Then she refocused her attention onto Miaka.

" Rin-!"

" If any of them call me 'Rin', I give all of you my full permission to lob off their heads." the Seiryu priestess ground her teeth, fists clenched though she forced the smile to stay on her face. All three Suzaku followers flinched, glancing at one another after these words. From his place beside the Izaya, Nakago raised a brow, looking at his priestess out of the corners of his eyes. He cleared his throat lightly and she glanced up at him. They held eye contact for a few seconds before the general finally stepped forward.

" Fools, first you try to hide your presence and now you're making all this noise." he said. Jumping in front of his priestess, Tasuki raised his fan over his head.  
" Watch out, Miaka! Rekka Shin'en!" when he thrust his arm toward the general, however, nothing happened. There was a moment of stillness and silence. Then Izaya snorted, one her hands pressed to her lips as she giggled.

" You must be Tasuki," the general reasoned, " your magic spells won't work here." then the blonde man started moving toward the three intruders again, holding out his hand. " So, who wants to die first?" There was the sound of a clap, and, suddenly, the Seiryu priestess grabbed at her warrior's arm.

" Neh, neh, Nakago!" she insisted and as she dragged the general back, the two Suzaku warriors and their priestess exchanged glances. " I just thought of something! We should," pausing for a second, she cleared her throat, eying the group of three in a way that a cat did a mouse caught in the corner of a room, " 'welcome' our 'uninvited guests'." Crossing his arms, the general frowned, glaring at her.

" We just finished detaining our last 'guest' this morning," he sniffed, cross," and you're already looking for a replacement?" After a second of blinking, the dark haired girl bore her teeth as she grinned.

" Come on, we can put these ones in the dungeon." she insisted. " Then you can play with them like you did with the last one. Don't even try to deny that you had fun back then either," raising her index finger, she pointed at him, narrowing her eyes, " you were down in that damn dungeon for hours that day. I was starting to wonder if I should send a search party to make sure you hadn't gotten lost on the way up." In answer, the general narrowed his eyes.

" Lady Izaya-" it was then that Miaka charged forward, tackling one of the guards who had been rolling his eyes at the time, both the Seiryu priestess and her warrior snapping back to attention.

" Chichiri, Tasuki! You have to escape!" she hollered. " Hurry!" as the soldiers attempted to restrain the Suzaku priestess, the monk grabbed his red haired companion by the shoulder, pulling him away.

"Stop!" Nakago made an attempt to go after them, but both warriors disappeared before he took more then a step forward. Blinking, the Seiryu came up beside the general. " They've found an opening in the barrier." Raising his voice he spoke to his men next. " Search the palace! And take her to the dungeon!"

Ignoring the struggling Suzaku priestess, Izaya spoke to her warrior in a low voice." They couldn't have gone far," she swept her gaze across the garden, " and there's no way they'll leave without Miaka." when he snorted, she gave a smile and giggle. " Not that you didn't already know that."

" IZAYA!" the Suzaku priestess yelled, both the dark haired girl and the blonde man turning to look at her. " Where's Tamahome?! What did you do to him?!" The Seiryu priestess let out a gasp.

" I'm insulted!" she said, theatrical, drawing her shoulders tall and placing a hand over the middle of her chest. " I'll have you know that I happen to dislike violence; no physical harm has been done to him by my hand since he arrived here in Kuto as a hostage. As far as I know he's still somewhere in the palace."

" You're lying!" Miaka insisted, even as the guards began to pull her away, out of the garden and toward the palace. " He promised to wait for me beneath this tree! Tamahome! TAMAHOME!" the cries went on from there, finally disappearing once the guards had dragged the struggling brunette far enough. Watching them take her away, Izaya leaned a shoulder against the front of the general's armor. Shaking her head, she sighed, waving after them.

" Neh, neh, Nakago, I don't know if I'll ever understand love sick people, will you?" this question was met with a long pause. When she noticed how long it was taking for his answer, the priestess took a step back and looked up into his face. The general made eye contact, expression as stern as it had been since they had first confronted the Suzaku group.

" 'By my hand'?" was what came out of his mouth next and, grinning, the girl placed both hands on her hips.

" And that's the truth." she insisted, raising an index finger and pointing it at the general. " I've never once slapped, punched or violated him in any way." Nakago cocked a brow then. Moaning, Izaya stomped her foot. " Okay, so I pointed a blade at him once or twice, but that's not the same. Blades and hands aren't the same thing and I never once sliced him up before either." Pouting, she jabbed him in the middle of his chest armor and her warrior lowered his brow. Then her facial features smoothed. " You heading back now?" He hummed glancing at her.

" And you?" he prompted and she blinked, giving a blank faced look. Then she snorted, laughing and shaking her head.

" After all that excitement? I won't be able to sit still for awhile. Think I'll stay out here," she said, jerking her head at some of the soldiers that were wandering around the hillside, " keep an eye on our boys, you know how lost they are without us. Besides, I've got pretty sharp eyes; maybe I could spot those sparrows myself." eying her carefully for a few seconds, Nakago twisted his head around.

" Dazhong." he called, the soldier closest to them blinking and jogging over to the priestess and general.

Standing tall, head high, feet together, arms tight at his side, he said. " Sir."

" Keep an eye on the priestess," the general nodded his head toward Izaya, " make sure she stays out of trouble."

" Yes, sir."

" Awe," the Seiryu priestess' voice was light, girlish almost as she bites on the edge of her index finger, " you worried about me? That's so sweet of you," her smile grew wider as she spoke the last words slowly, "Ai-ren." Both men froze. Jaw slacking, Dazhong's face turned red, but he kept his mouth shut and didn't smile. It took several seconds before the general spoke up again.

" Lady Izaya, where did you learn that word?" he asked, tone stiff.

" Overheard a couple using it in the market place." she provided, beaming, positively vibrant.

" Do you realize what it means?" he went on. Grinning, the girl stepped closer to the general, putting herself chest to chest with him.

" Maaaaaaybe~" she drawled, giggling. Placing a hand on the shoulder plate of his armor, with her other hand she reached up. Flicking the general's chin with the very edge of her index finger, she added. " Or maybe you could clear things up for me sometime, neh~?" Their eyes met and for several seconds held. Then finally, the priestess stepped back. She was still smiling even as she turned. As she headed away, giggling as she went, soldier Dazhong followed after her. He looked between the general and the priestess until the former hit him with a glare. Izaya headed out through the garden, and for a few seconds, the blonde man gazed at her back. Giving himself a shake, he turned back around, making his way back to the palace.~~

The more time that went by the more that it appeared to all of the soldiers on the hillside that it was a fruitless effort searching for those two Suzaku warriors in the garden. If anything having the Seiryu priestess there with them made the men even less motivated to search then they would have been without her. After only ten or fifteen minutes of searching she had already given up. She'd walked back to the tree where they had found the Suzaku priestess and sat down, crossing her ankles and melting her framework into the folds of the tree truck. The soldiers had begun reporting to her about their lack there of signs of the Suzaku warriors and when they started to complain about their searching she whined right along with them.

" Just keep looking," she said with a sigh to two men, " waste some time; at least then no one can say we didn't try to find them." Nodding, they headed out again, Izaya waving after them. Shaking her head, she glanced over at Dazhong. " Why don't you go with them? A new pair of eyes might do some good." He blinked.

" But-"

" Don't worry," she said, waving her hand, " I'm not going to go anywhere and I won't tell Nakago that you left." jerking her head at the other soldiers, she added. " I'll ask them not to say anything to him either. Go on; if you find something then we can all head back to the palace and get some shut eye faster." The soldier hesistated. Finally, Dazhong nodded, turning and hollering at the two that had left, jogging to catch up with them.

Smiling, Izaya shook her head, leaning her head back against the trunk of the tree. Shutting her eyes, she exhaled slowly. " Neh, neh, how long are you feather heads going to keep sitting up there all quiet like that?" There was a silence that followed these words and frowning, the Seiryu priestess sat up, twisting around and glaring up into the branches of the tree. " Neh, bird brains, don't make me climb up there! Or would you rather I just call all the soldiers back and point them in the right direction?"

" No no no!" one voice came down from the tree, loud, the second speaker quickly shushing him. Smiling, Izaya leaned her back against the tree trunk, but kept her eyes focused up into the branches. From above her, a light head of hair peaked out from around one thick branch, closely followed by a bright red head. Tasuki glared, baring his teeth a light growl vibrating the girl's eardrums. His monk companion looked somewhere between uneasy and angry, though it was difficult to be sure with the smiling mask that he wore. Leisurely, the Seiryu priestess waved at them.

" Hello, hello, little sparrows." There was a pause.

" How did you know we were here?" Chichiri asked, voice low and level. She gave a laugh.

" Yeah, I wonder how I knew you were there too." was her answer, reaching back and scratching the back of her neck. " After I got down to the bottom of the hill, I couldn't help thinking 'They couldn't possibly have gotten this far away, teleportation magic or not'. So I thought I'd come back here and think it over for a little bit. There are only so many hiding places in areas like this after all. When I got close to the tree, though," she nodded her head, gazing out across the garden, " I figured it out. Priestess sense or something."

" So you knew we were here from there start?" Tasuki prompted and the girl let out a heavy sigh, shaking her head.

" Wasn't that what I just said?" she sniffed, placing a hand on her forehead and rubbing her temples. " Honestly, I'm beginning to wonder if any of you Suzaku people have a brain in between those pairs of ears. I know there are some dumb people in the world, but seriously, they couldn't have all congregated in the same country. So much idiocy in one place and the empire would've burned down by now."

" Hey-!"

" Tasuki!" the monk cut him off in a hiss, placing a finger to his lip and shushing his companion a second time. Clamping his hand over his mouth, the red head attempted to talk through his hand. Every word was incoherent. When he saw Izaya roll her eyes and shake her head again the volume of the sounds coming out of his mouth rose, but he never removed his hand from his lips. Not paying him any mind, the light haired man frowned slightly as he looked down at the Seiryu priestess.

" If you knew we were here all along," Chichiri said, " why haven't you told the soldiers?"

" Ah! There's the smart member of the group!" she insisted, chipper. " There might be hope for your flock yet; thank goodness-" hearing the Suzaku warrior clear his throat, she raised her eyes again. His expression had sunken despite his mask and with a sigh, Izaya held up both hands. " Alright, alright, I'll be serious. I was just playing around a little." shifting, she drew her legs closer to her body. Setting her elbows against her knees, she leaned forward. Gazing at the garden from the hilltop tree, she could see the grassy plains intermingled with apple trees and vibrant flowers. The wind blew against her back, pulling her hair forward and sending a shiver rippling up her spine. A little smile raised her lips.

Turning her head to the side, she rested her cheek against her forearm. " Neh, neh- Chichiri, right?" there was a pause, one where the Seiryu priestess swore she could feel the displeasure that the monk felt for her. It was like blankets had engulfed her and someone was trying to suffocate her with them. Glancing up, she didn't go on until after the monk had nodded his head once. " Neh, neh, Chichiri? Have you ever thought that maybe the Seiryu Seishi and the Suzaku Seishi both want the same thing?"

" What?!" Tasuki was the one to give an answer, finally removing his hand from his mouth. " No way! That's impossible!" His palm smacked back against his lips. Scowling, the girl glared at him.

" I wasn't asking you." she sniffed.

" You can't say that the Seiryu and Suzaku Seishi are looking for the same thing!" the red head wouldn't be silenced so easily it seemed. " You're the ones trying to start a war with us, aren't you?! How can you think that we want to do something like that, huh?!" opening her mouth to retort, she stopped abruptly. There were a few seconds in which she froze there. Clicking her mouth shut, she looked up regarding the hot headed Suzaku warrior carefully. Then she rested her cheek against her forearm again, silent for a moment. Humming, she tilted her head one way and then to the opposite.

" I suppose we are trying to start a war, aren't we?" she murmured, eyes on the garden, not seeing Tasuki's jaw drop open. He turned to Chichiri.

" Is this girl for real?" he asked the monk, getting the answer in a form of a laugh from the priestess.

" That's ironic, since I think the same thing about you people sometimes." she told them. The red haired warrior growled, getting to his feet. Stomping his foot on the branch, he moved to speak but was interrupted before he got the chance. " But that doesn't have anything to do with my question and neither does the war. Those are boring; not something I want to talk about." waving her hand, she glanced up at the two again.

Not paying any mind to Tasuki or his blank faced confusion, the Seiryu priestess' attention focused in on the monk. Though she couldn't see his eyes through the mask, Izaya had the feeling that he was holding her gaze and it was this that drew the smile across her face. " Well, what do you think?" she insisted, earnest this time. " There are two paths; is there a chance that they meet at the same place in the end?" Then she watched as Chichiri's features stiffened.

" I don't know what you're talking about, no da." the blue haired man insisted, but the priestess threw her head back and laughed.

" That's a lie," she stated, flatly, " of all the Suzaku people that I've come into contact with, you're probably the only one that this metaphor isn't wasted on. Come on, I'm just asking your opinion on the idea. No right or wrong answers when you're asking for opinions. I promise I won't call the guards no matter what you say," holding up her index finger, she added, " though if you're stupid enough to come down from the tree I'm going to make sure every soldier in the entire palace can hear me screaming, you got me?" turning her head slightly, she glared at Tasuki, who looked about half way ready to leap down to the ground. He'd been lucky enough to catch himself, the monk grabbing onto his shirt to keep the red haired boy from falling out of the branches. There was a few seconds of pause, one where Chichiri and the Seiryu priestess simply gazed at one another.

" No," the light haired man finally spoke up, Tasuki blinking at him in the same way that Izaya did, " our goals can't be the same. I don't see how any path leading to war could end at what our goal as the Suzaku Seishi is, no da." After a second, the dark haired girl hummed, nodding her head two times. Brows furrowed, she frowned, placing a hand on her chin. " I don't know how you could ever think such a thing." Glancing up, she aimed a half smile at him.

" I've been told that I have a wild imagination." was her answer to her, falling inside of herself again, her frown returning. After some time passed, she shook her head slowly. " No; there's no other way for us. . ." mumbling to herself, the two Suzaku warriors exchanged glances. Looking up at Chichiri again, the Seiryu priestess said. " It's nice to have an intelligent conversation with someone besides Nakago for once. It's only been a few moments long but I already feel like it's double on the intelligence scale compared to the talks that I had with Tama-chan." Jerking her head toward Tasuki,  
she added. " Quadruple in his case."

" What?!"

" You've been talking to Tamahome?" as they both asked her these questions, Izaya was scowling at herself, tapping the palm of her hand against her lips.

" Oh, son of a bitch," she said, " what a time for you to betray me, mouth! Always talk too much at the wrong fucking moments." her head shook and just as te monk was about to say something else the sound of a scream interrupted him. Frowning, the priestess girl arched her neck, gazing in the direction she thought the shout had come from. It was more then a few seconds later that Dazhong and another soldier came running over to the tree.

" Did you hear that scream, Lady Izaya?!" Dazhong insisted as the two came to a stop in front of her.

" Yeah," she told him, using the tree trunk to pull herself up onto her feet, dusting off her butt and thighs as she did so, " any idea what it was?" Both men shook their heads.

" We're going to go check it out." the other soldier informed her and the priestess nodded, placing a hand on her hip.

" Suppose I'll have to come along too." she said, running a hand through the short stocks of her hair. " The general is looking for you as well." the un-named soldier told her and the dark haired girl's head dropped.

" Of course he is," she grumbled, more to herself then to the two standing in front of her, " why wouldn't he need to see me now? Men!" Shrugging her shoulders she shook her head, finally raising her head. " Alright, lead the way." She let the soldiers get a head start. Twisting around, she waved at the tree, smiling brightly. " Goodbye, little sparrows! We'll meet again soon, I'm sure!" Then she jogged to catch up with the two men. They both looked at her, Dazhong glancing over his shoulder at the tree.

" Who were you talking to?" he inquired and the priestess giggled.

" Sparrows." she answered. " They were nested up in the tree." frowning, he tilted his head.

" There aren't supposed to be any nests in the gardens." he commented and the girl shrugged her shoulders.

" Well there is one." she stated the second man rolling his eyes.

" The garden staff is slacking again. Lazy fuckers." he stated and Izaya let her head fall back, laughing like crazy. Both men exchanged glances, baffled as to what could have possibly brought it on.~~~~~

Small confession time: Chichiri is actually my favorite character in Fushigi Yuugi. Don't ask me why.( I have a thing for the quiet, nice types *cough cough*) Ahem, anyways, the next chapter is going up soon so please continue reading! And review! I like a good review! Even if you just want to let me know that you're out there and reading, I would appreciate a word or two. ^^

Chinese lesson for the chapter: Airen, literally translated means "love person". If I'm remembering my Chinese culture correctly, they don't actually have a word for "boyfriend" or "girlfriend" over there and airen is the term that they use to refer to their significant other. In Izaya's case it would mean that she was calling Nakago "lover" which is why both Nakago and Dazhong had such a strong reaction to it.


	11. Screwed

And here's the next one! This one is a bit on the shorter, but as I said before, it was either one extremely long chapter or two semi-small ones. I feel like the later one was a better choice.

Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own Fushigi Yuugi; Izaya is my despicable little bitch though!~~~~~

It wasn't long after that she was following Nakago around the palace. She'd arrived just as the general had gotten the report of Miaka escaping from the dungeon. The priestess let out a hearty laugh and even when the blonde man hit her with a glare, she had continued. Eventually she'd gotten a hold on herself and there was a long stretch of time where the two walked together. Reports came to them and as the general directed the soldiers, the priestess girl's eyes hung. She'd taken to looking around, striking up casual conversations with others while the Nakago was doing his job.

At one point Tamahome, all "hopped up on astral buzz" as Izaya called it, came to report as well. When he'd said that the Suzaku priestess had been recaptured after she'd both eaten an entire table of food and had her arm broken by him, the Seiryu priestess hadn't even bothered to wait. She cut off Tamahome's report and got in as many "I told you so" variations as she could before the general became outright enraged with her theatrics. Even after Tamahome had been sent to look for the two Suzaku warriors that were still wandering freely in the palace grounds, Izaya persisted with telling him off. She skipped beside him, humming with delight.

This only lasted for a short time; soon she became as bored with the constant reports from the soldiers as she had before Tamahome had given his report. She was looking around standing by Nakago, when her attention was caught by the words she happened to catch the general saying.

" What? I took away the Suzaku priestess?" he frowned deeply at the soldier before him. They seemed even more befuddled then he was, staring helplessly at his commanding officer. Looking between the men and the blonde Seiryu warrior, Izaya blinked. " What nonsense are you talking about?!" the general sniffed, starting to walk. Just as he finished saying these words, someone rounded the corner.

Face to face, the man that had turned the corner, standing opposite of Nakago was. . .Nakago.

For a second, the two stood, dumbstruck mirror imagines of one another. Blinking, the priestess rubbed her eye, looking up and between the two a second time. After a second, the Nakago that had rounded the corner took a step back.

" Ops!" his face both paled and flushed at the same time.

" What?" the one beside Izaya sputtered, and the second Nakago spun on his heels and made a run for it. " A Suzaku warrior!" the real Nakago exclaimed. The soldiers that had been standing by during what would later be dubbed "the twin Nakago" event began shouting. As they rushed off, calling the bizarre order of "capturing the general", their actual general gave a curt laugh. " How presumptuous to imitate me!"

In the meantime, Izaya pointed at where the second Nakago had disappeared and burst into an uproar of laughter. It was a loud, thick sound that echoed down the hallways. Dropping to the floor, she held her sides. It took her so long to collect herself that the blonde man actually looked over at her, raising a brow. Pushing herself back to her feet, she patted him on the back none too gently.

" He-He got you good there!" she grinned as she stuttered with giggles still. All he could do was give her an even stare. Humming as she finally got herself under control, she placed a hand on her chin. " I don't know which Suzaku warrior that was, but I like him." After a few seconds of pause, Izaya turned her head, linking eyes with Nakago. " Guess that means that little girl got away from us again, neh?" The general nodded.

" It appears so. But I think I know where she is." he said and instantly Izaya's face lite up.

" Really? You do?" she insisted, sounding perhaps a bit too excited. Bouncing up and down, she clapped her hands, gazing up at her warrior with earnest. " Well then, don't hold out on me now! Come on! Let's go, let's go!"~~

They reached the platform just as Tamahome was approaching Miaka. Reaching the railing, as they watched them and listened to the Suzaku warrior and priestess talking, Izaya smiled.

" Damn! What a view!" she said, giving a short laugh. " Best seats in the house; it's just like the movies." Standing beside her, Nakago looked at her. Seeing the way that he was gazing at her, the she giggled waving her hand. " A play, I mean. With actors and everything." that seemed to satisfy his curiousity with the word and as they continued to stand by and watch, the dark haired girl swung her legs over the railing. Standing on the small ledge on the outside, she pushed herself up until she was sitting on the railing, resting her elbows against her knees. " If only I had some popcorn, er," she glanced over and saw her warrior hitting her with another curious look, " snacks, I mean."

They continued to watch the as Tamahome denied his former love for the Suzaku priestess, tearing up a piece of paper. As he moved to attack the girl, the Seiryu priestess leaned forward. Holding up a fist, when Tasuki rolled in to rescue Miaka, Izaya groaned. Her entire torso swung back like a pendulum until she dangling upside down.

" GOD DAMMIT!" she cussed, her hair raised off of her head as she hung there. " This girl has more fucking lucky then anyone that I've ever met. What are the chances that she could escape, get recaptured, escape again, and still have someone leap to the rescue her at the very last second?" twisting side to side, she lashed out at the open air before letting her arms hang limb over her head. After a few more seconds of doing this, she finally lifted her head up. Nakago just stood there watching her. His arms were crossed, but his head was quirked to the side a few degrees and he hadn't backed away a step as others might have in the same situation. She grinned, boyish, finally swinging herself upright again.

" You're having too much fun." he stated. Her posture slouched as she looked out across the field again and she gave a little snicker.

" No such thing." was her answer. Tamahome and Tasuki started fighting. As they did, the Seiryu priestess sat Indian style on the railing, pumping her fists in the arm, throwing her torso side to side. Any time either one of the Suzaku warriors took a hit she made groans and grunting sounds to go along with them, often snickering right after. At one point she was even providing her own commentary for the entire thing, as though it were some big event that hundreds of people had come to see.

" Who do you think will win?" Izaya asked at one point. The general shrugged one shoulder, nonchalant.

" That Tasuki's not a bad fighter, " Nakago said, " the two of them are on the same level. I can't tell who will win." humming, the Seiryu priestess nodded.

" That just makes it an even better show." she insisted, drawing back letting out an "OHHH!" as the red haired warrior was tossed into the tree leaving an outline of his body on the bark. The fight went on still and as she woke, Miaka protested the fighting instantly.

" And after all he did to her." the general commented, his priestess rolling her eyes.

" Soft hearted fool." she sniffed. It wasn't long after that they finally got involved in the fray.

" Miaka! Chichiri! Watch out!" Tasuki, half dead on his feet, called out to his companions.

" But we-!" the Suzaku priestess protested as the monk's brows furrowed. It was then that a blast of energy shot out at them. Chichiri grabbed the girl around the middle, jumping out of the way with a squeal of fright. He ducked into hiding along with Miaka and from her place on the platform, Izaya's gaze slowly turned toward the Seiryu warrior standing beside her.

" You want to leave so soon?" Nakago voiced, a smirk plastered across his face. His right arm was stretched out, palm facing outward. There was a sparking orb in front of his hand, his left hand settled under the energy ball. There was enough force within his grasp that it pushed at his cape and hair, tossing the loose pieces of the Seiryu priestess' hair side to side. Forehead glowing, there was an almost wild glow in his blue eyes and a shiver ran up Izaya's spine. " Tasuki doesn't stand a chance against Tamahome. Be reasonable and come out of hiding-!"

Just as he was about to go out looking for the two of them, however, the dark haired girl scrambled. Placing her knees on the railing, she raised herself up. Pushing a piece of the blonde man's hair out of the way, she narrowed her eyes, gazing at the mark on his forehead. Frozen, there was a short pause. When his priestess didn't move away from him, Nakago forced a cough. Scowling at her when those gray eyes finally moved off his forehead, there was a few seconds where they simply held eye contact. Holding up both her hands, palms facing outward, Izaya leaned away.

" Sorry, sorry, don't mind me." she amended waving him along. " Please, go ahead." Frowning at her for a few seconds longer, the general drew his shoulders to full height again, tugging the bangs in front of his right eye. The golden tendrils fell back into place and he left the platform, heading into the thick of the garden trees in search of the two hidden birds. She let out a long breath, putting her arms around herself and shivering. " Scary; yikes." hopping down onto her feet, the priestess dug out her pocket knife, holding it in the palm of her hand as she headed out into those trees. " Maybe I should stop teasing him all the time."

She started to wander around, searching for the hidden warrior and priestess too. It wasn't long after that a yell and crashing sound told her that she was had been beaten to the punch by the general. Sighing, she ran a hand through her hair, and started walking toward where all the noise had come from. The Seiryu priestess arrived just in time to see Chichiri take the upper hand. Using his magic, he took back Tasuki and blocked an in coming attack from Nakago all at the same time. Standing back, the three outside of the monk's power could only stand by and watch. Just before they were teleported away and Miaka was saying her dramatic good bye to Tamahome, the monk warrior spared the Seiryu priestess a glance. She looked back. Angling one side of her head a little higher, she gave a half smile at him, placing a hand on her hip.

Once they had disappeared, Izaya gave a sigh, loosening her shoulders. " What a pity. We were so close to our goal." the general voiced, but the girl gave a grunt and shrugged.

" Nothing's ever that easy," she replied, " it was a lot of fun either way. You won't hear me complaining about this."

It was only as she glanced over at the two men that she noticed that there was something off. Eyes widened as he stared at Tamahome, Nakago's unsettled expression had the girl's instant attention. Glancing at the Suzaku warrior that the two of them had drugged, she noted the tears that began trailing down his face. Taking another quick look at the blonde man, she drew her mouth into a careful, thin line. After a few seconds, she slipped away, heading back toward the palace without saying a word to either of them.~~

Late the following day Izaya walked up to Nakago as he was going about his daily routine. " I hate you." she said, abruptly, glaring at him as she planted herself squarely in front of him. When he reached her, the general side stepped around the priestess. She didn't miss a beat, following at his side.

" How rude." he stated, even toned.

" Don't give me that!" she snapped, stomping her foot as she walked. " You've been screwing with me this entire time, haven't you? Telling me all this crap about 'astral poison'." Waving her hands around, she changed her voice, mocking. " 'Alters a person's memories', 'mind control'-"

" I told you it wasn't mind control." the blonde man interjected, though it came out as a sigh. He was disagreeing with her, but he sounded as though he had given up on convincing her to see his side. " I'm certain I don't know why you're making such a fuss." Izaya snorted, rolling her eyes.

" Yeah, right," it was blunt sarcasm, " and the fact that Tamahome sudden wants in my pants more then a dog in heat has nothing to do with the astral poison that you had me give to him." the general snorted, though whether it was to hid a laugh or purely out of annoyance with the girl's choice of words was hard to say. " It's not funny! He won't leave me alone! At this rate I'm really starting to think that he's going to sneak into my room at night like some creepy stalker." Nakago's expression didn't change.

" What a colorful imagination you have." he said and Izaya grabbed him by the arm, giving it a hard jerk.

" No, no, no!" she insisted, stomping her foot a second time and pointing at the general. " You listen here and you listen good! Get _rid_ of him! _NOW_!"

" I thought you wanted him around?" the blonde man prompted, but the girl moaned, pulling on his arm.

" God damn you, Nakago! Are you going to make me beg for this?!" she cried. " Get rid of him! _PLEASE_! It's only been one day and I already have an on going fantasy of tearing open his chest, breaking his rib cage and yanking his heart out with my bare hands!" frowning, the general placed a hand on his chin.

" What would you do with his heart after that?" he pondered.

" Slice it into the tiniest pieces that I can before eating it raw and using his blood as a dipping sauce." she answered automatically, then gave her head a shake. " That's besides the point! Make him go away! PLEASE!" there was a moment of pause, one where the general didn't move.

Grabbing onto the blonde man's other hand, the priestess dropped to her knees, putting her forehead against his knuckles. " PLEASE! Send him away! Please, please, please, please, please!" she was practically yelling, drawing the attention of the small number of palace workers that were going about their work in the area. When they noticed the general and priestess and their current positions, a small number blushed. Most looked away, trying not to appear interest though their wandering eyes proved the effort to be in vain. Despite their audience, the general allowed a few seconds to pass before giving an answer.

" He'll be gone by tomorrow." he told her and as her entire body slackened, a heavy sigh dropped out of her mouth. Jumping to her feet, she threw herself at him. Startled, he managed to catch her. Both her arms were wrapped around his broad shoulders and her legs were around his waist.

" Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you!" she repeated this over and over again as she hung like that from his framework. Only a small number of the workers around had the type of self control to keep from outright staring at the two of them and the general was well aware of their stares. He had to physically pry Izaya's arms and legs off of him. Once she was on the ground again, she gave a sigh, placing a hand over her heart. After regarding her for a second, the general began walking and the Seiryu priestess walked with him.

" Why are you following me?" he asked, voice bland.

" Because if I do I don't have to deal with that drug fucked bird anymore." she answered, leisurely. " It's best for all of us, trust me. I'm about two jumps away from making the bloody fantasy a reality to begin with." The blonde man didn't say anything in answer to that, letting her follow at his heels.

When they reached his office he set to work, and as she had done so many times before, Izaya grabbed a scroll and lay on the floor reading quietly. She fell asleep at one point. The scroll was stretched across her chest, one hand holding it to her chest. Her other arm lay on the ground, hand slack not more two feet away from Nakago's foot. Both her legs were bent at the knees and her calves were resting on the seat of the chair on the opposing side of the general's desk.

How she managed to sleep in such a position.

She roused later and it was only as they were finally leaving his office that the blonde man remembered something. A smirk colored his face as he shut the door to his office. " You recall that yesterday you said that I would have something to 'play' with in the dungeons right now?" Turning, the priestess blinked at him. It took her a few seconds, but when the memory finally came to mind she snapped her fingers.

" Neh! I did say that, didn't I?" she hummed, thoughtfully, placing a finger against her chin. Not long after a devious grin parted her mouth. Taking a few steps ahead of him, she folded her hands behind her back. Glancing over her shoulder at him, she wiggled a brow as she said. " You can whip me later tonight if you want, airen." A pink tint had colored her cheeks, but she gave a wolfish grin, giggling. His walk stiffened a little, but he gave a snort.

" That's not nearly as amusing." he stated and she waved at him.

" You don't know until you try." was her answer, a bounce in her step and a light in her eyes that hadn't been there before that. Before he could say anything in answer to these words she took off at a run, skidding as she reached the corner. With a vibrant laugh, she disappeared around it.~~~~~

That would be the end of this chapter everyone! Hope you enjoyed this lovely incident; let me tell you I was dreading writing it until I finally sat down and did doesn't mean I'm not glad to be done with it though.

Oh! I've actually got some more good news for all you readers; I'm actually almost done with the next chapter too. There are a few touch ups I still need to do so it's not going up right away. So all of you that have been wondering why I tagged Suboshi as the second major character in this you will find out why very very soon! THAT'S ALL I'M SAYING!

Until then, thanks for reading and please send me a review even if only to say " Hi, I'm here!"


	12. Cats

And here's another chapter! I said it wouldn't take long! I blame school for the two week delay; actually I should probably be studying for my exams right about now. ^^;; Opps.

I don't own Fushigi yuugi but I do own Rin Izaya.

Now, enjoy the chapter!~~~~~~

It was probably a bad time to try and introduce Suboshi to Izaya. Then again, Nakago had his doubts that there was ever a _good_ time to introduce Izaya to anyone.

What made this particularly bad was the fact that the Seiryu priestess was carrying around baijiu again. After seeing her with it in the torture chambers the first time, the general had tried to get her to tell him who she'd gotten it from. The initial jug had come from one of the men in the kitchen and Nakago had been sure to nip that in the bud; after having a short talk with the man in question there had been a promise made to not give her any more alcohol.

When he'd spotted her with another container of it, however, the kitchen employee in question had insisted that it hadn't been him. Every since the general had been trying to get the priestess to give up her source; something that she had stubbornly refused to say even to that very day. Going to the other usual suspects around the palace, none of them seemed to have any idea where she was getting it from either, which struck Nakago as both unusual and semi-disturbing. It seemed as though she were getting it at regular intervals and at increasingly large quantities. There was no way she was stealing it from just anyone; not without them noticing. Whomever her supplier was had to have a direct connect to the a baijiu brewer, and they were known for being a tightly knit group.

So how was it that she was getting the alcohol?

That being said, the one saving grace that Nakago had was the fact that Izaya didn't seem to be able to get drunk. He didn't know for sure, but judging by the many stories that his men were telling about their little binge sessions with her and the few times he'd caught her leaving a few of these little parties, the worst she ever seemed to get was a giggly tipsy. Not that it had any effect on her tongue; she'd argued with Nakago just as well with a hiccup in her voice as she had any other time they'd disagreed. In fact, she was perhaps even more straight forward and blunt tipsy then she was sober, something that the general wouldn't have thought possible without experiencing it first hand.

This last part was the reason why when he opened the door to Izaya's room with Suboshi at his heels, the blonde man had been horrified to find her sitting on the floor with a handful of his soldiers seated beside and opposite her.

They looked to be playing cards, three men with pipes between their teeth, two others with their pipes between their fingers. There were containers of alcohol all over the place, cups and saucers to pour them out into settled by knees, in front of the men, in their hands, at their mouths, the list went on. They, however, had at least had the decency to _have_ cups. The Seiryu priestess had a hand resting against a baijiu container that was the size of a small child. It was seated beside her and the way she rested her hand on it made it seem as though she counted it as another person in the room rather then her alcohol of choice for the afternoon.

Yes, the afternoon; it had only been an hour since they had had lunch.

When she finally noticed the two of them standing in the door frame, Izaya smiled, raising an arm high over her head while pulling her container of baijiu closer to her side.

" Welcome, welcome!" when she greeted them the soldiers sitting in the circle with her glanced over. Those that weren't already drunk stiffened when they saw their general standing there and several tried to hide their drink cups from view. Shifting closer to the man on her right, keeping the baijiu container close to her side, the priestess patted the ground beside herself. " Come in! Pop a squat! We were just about to start another round of poker." Then she knocked off the cork of the container. She needed both arms to lift it up and drink from it. Judging by how far back her head tilted, Nakago had a feeling the jug was about half way gone; maybe more. Watching her, the pit of the blonde warrior's stomach dropped. Putting down the container, the priestess looked over again.

After a second, she frowned deeply, wrinkling her nose and narrowing her eyes. Putting a hand over her eyes, as though shielding them from the sun, her face scrunched up for a second. " Neh, neh, who's that with you, Nakago?" She wasn't drunk; when she hiccuped, though, it was all the general needed to know that the alcohol had kicked in.

" Lady Izaya," he said, not grinding his teeth but feeling sorely tempted to, " do you remember what we discussed during dinner last night?" frowning more deeply, the girl placed her finger to her chin, humming for several seconds. Then her eyes widened and she planted a fist into the palm of the opposite hand.

" That's right! You were going to introduce me to one of the other Seiryu warriors today!" the hand that had been a fist whipped out and she pointed at Suboshi. " That must be you! Come on, come on, join us!" getting up she grabbed onto the young boy's arm, attempting to drag the warrior into the room. " There's no better way to get to know someone then through a good, friendly game of cards-!" Jerking his hand free of the girl's grasp, Suboshi stepped away from Izaya. He glared at her, expression somewhere between completely disgusted and severely disappointed. If the Seiryu priestess had even the faintest hint of his disfavor of her, it didn't show in her face. A lucid smile parted her face and she gave a hiccup.

Planting a hand on her hip, she angled her head and cocked a brow, eying the young warrior the way cats did cornered mice. " Neh, neh, boys! We've got ourselves a chicken here!" those that weren't sober enough to be self aware hooted or clucked; Izaya being the ring leader of it all, flapping her arms and clucking until all but the two Seiryu warriors were laughing.

Crossing his arms, Suboshi sneered. " You're drunk." he stated and the only female in the room let her head fall back as she laughed.

" I'm not drunk," she replied, turning to look at the soldiers on her floor, she pointed, " Dazhong, Shenron, and Daluo, they are most definitely drunk; Haixiang is probably in a close forth to them." flicking her wrist, she turned back to Suboshi and Nakago. After a hiccup, she said. " Aside from Chunwei, I'm probably the most sober person in the room at this point, neh?" turning her eyes onto Chenwei, a light haired man with a lean build, she grinned when he lifted a tea cup in her direction and nodded his head. Her hand found her hip again and she refocused on the young warrior. " But, hey, it's not like you would know about grown up stuff like this; you're still just a kid." shrugging, she sighed and headed back for her spot on the floor among the soldiers. The boy's brows twitched.

" Kid?!" he huffed, grinding his teeth. With her legs crossed, Izaya bore her teeth in a grin, putting her arm around her baijui jug again.

" Just- a- kid~" she snickered, then she waved at the soldiers in the circle. " Come on, deal 'em out, deal 'em out. If any of you boys manage to beat me this round I'll strip off my top." there were collective groans from the men as Chunwei began passing out the cards.

" You say that every round, Izaya." the one to the right of priestess stated.

" You're such a tease." Haixiang's voice slurred and his finger swung in a slow circle that didn't stop and the priestess girl scowled.

" I am not a tease; you pricks all just suck at cards." glancing at Haixiang, the dark haired girl bore her teeth in a wolfish smile as she added. " Besides, you're so sloshed you won't remember even if I do end up stripping." that earned laughter from the men.

" Hell no! No way I'd forget something like that, no matter how drunk I was." Haixiang insisted, pointing at the girl, and she rolled her eyes as more laughter hit the air.

" Yeah, yeah," she drawled, bouncing in place, " come on, let's fuckin' play!" they picked up the cards that they'd been dealt.

" If she didn't have such a good poker face we would already know what the rest of that damn tattoo looks like." one man whispered to the man beside him.

" Where the hell does a girl learn to become such a card shark?" the second nodded in agreement.

There were a few moments where as the poker game started the two Seiryu warriors were both still standing in the room. Several of the less drunk soldiers sent uneasy glances over at the pair standing by the door frame, but the rest and Izaya, however, didn't acknowledge the two beyond that point. Nakago was perfectly content with leaving things at that; it was too bad that Suboshi had other plans.

After clearing his throat several times without getting the priestess' attention, he finally snapped. " Hey!"

Blinking, the dark haired girl raised her eyes onto the two of them. " Oh, are you still here?" waving a hand at them, she refocused on her cards. " You can go ahead and go; I don't give two shits about anything that doesn't involve booze, cards, and tokens right now. I'm in one of those moods, you know." the last words were aimed at the general and he knew it. The blonde man was sorely tempted to roll his eyes; he should have known, of course.

" So you're just going to keep ignoring us?!" Suboshi persisted.

" Yep." her answer was automatic; she didn't even spare the young warrior a glance.

" You-!" he stepped forward, hands clenched into fists.

" Little boys should know when to leave the adult folks alone." Izaya stated, using a bubbly voice that most reserved for speaking to babies, jerking her head at the dealer, Chunwei. Folding her cards, she placed them on the ground in front of herself and dragged the baijiu jug onto her lap. Her tone hadn't changed from the high pitched baby talk voice as she added. " Unless you plan on proving that you're a big boy by having a drink and playing cards?" giving a little pout, she pursed her lip and twisted side to side. It was obnoxiously childish; the way she always was when she was "in one of those moods".

In retrospect, Nakago realized he probably should've mentioned that to Suboshi before trying to introduce him to Izaya.

" Fine!" he snapped, moving to join them. As the corner of the Seiryu priestess' lip lifted into a smirk, she gave a snicker. The young warrior hadn't noticed it, apparently as he sat down beside the girl. Clapping her hands once, she shifted to the side.

" Excellent!" she insisted, waving at one of the men by the far wall of the room. " Pour him a drink! We'll let him jump in on the next round of the game!" then she spared the blonde man a glance and scowled. Getting up, she grabbed onto his shoulder, spinning him around and leading him out the door. " Nakago, you're making things really awkward here; you have work to do, don't you?" she pushed him out the door and twisting back around to look at her, the general crossed his arms.

" Lady Izaya-"

" Oh, don't be such a worry wort." she said, flicking her wrist. " We'll be gentle with him, I promise. He's the one who said he wanted to join us, anyways." he cocked his brow at her then, and she scowled. " Hey, hey, you can't blame me for this; I didn't force this one him in any way, shape or form. You have no right to look at me like that." There was a brief pause after that, then the general arched his neck, looking into the room again.

" Lady Izaya-" he began more slowly this time, but she cut him off again.

" They aren't doing anything wrong." she told him. " All of the soldiers in there are on their day off; I invited them to join me when I noticed them heading for the palace gates."

" Dazhong and Haixiang are supposed to be guarding you." the blonde man pointed out, and the priestess girl sniffed.

" I dismissed them and then invited them for a drink." was her answer. They were silent, holding eye contact. Then Izaya placed both hands on her hips. " Honestly, I thought you'd be grateful. With all of them here with me you don't have to deal with them or their annoying interruptions. You can get all your work finished up without me or any of them coming in to bother you. Hell, you don't even have to deal with the kid anymore either. You should be thanking me." Then there was another short silence.

" I'm going to regret this later, aren't I?" he commented, bland, face as stern and stoic as it had been from the beginning. The Seiryu priestess grinned.

" Probably, but doesn't it sound fuckin' delightful right now?" she insisted. The general gave a hum. Tilting his head downward for a second, he walked away. Izaya waved good bye as he left.~~

Needless to say, Suboshi had no kind words to describe the dark haired girl that was his priestess after that. She had, apparently, not only drank him into a stupor, but once he'd sobered up the following morning the young warrior had found the words "Rin Izaya's prision bitch." written across his chest and stomach. It had taken him five minutes to deciefer because he was so hung over. The room had been spinning when he woke up and his head had been pounding for the rest of that day.

When prompted about "being gentle" with Suboshi, Izaya had given Nakago a blank faced stare before saying. " I thought we were gentle with him. You should've seen how much more I threw back then he did. I can't help it if the kid's a push over." She hadn't seemed the least bit hung over the day after.

Several days went passed after that were the young Seiryu warrior visibly avoided his priestess, until one afternoon.

" Neh, neh, Nakago? What wrong? You seem troubled?" Izaya prompted, frowning at the general as he crossed the room to where she lay scrawled out on the floor, a book in hand. As he came to a stop in front of her, she rolled onto her side, setting the book down on the floor beside herself and shutting it carefully. Nakago was quiet for a few moments, his eyes cast downward and to the side, avoiding Izaya's gaze. She frowned more deeply. " Neh, something happened, didn't it?"

" Yes," he finally answered her, " there's some troubling news." Sighing, Izaya lowered her head.

" Oh boy," she sniffed, pushing herself up onto her feet, dusting off her pants, " what is it?" Nakago led the way through the palace, Izaya following not far behind him. She recognized the area he was leading her to. When she'd first started exploring the palace that time several months ago it had been one of the few areas that Nakago had given her permission to visit on a regular basis. It was a military training area, the rooms inside the palace connected to the grounds outside. He stopped in front of one door in particular and Izaya blinked. Looking up at him, she peaked around the half opened door. She recognized the lean framework of the young Seiryu warrior that Nakago had introduced her to. " What's wrong with him?" she prompted, gazing up at Nakago.

" Suboshi is mourning." he answered her, for once speaking softly, as though in enduring. " His brother, Amiboshi, is dead." Izaya's eyes grew wider and she turned her attention back to the boy knelt upon the ground inside the practice room.

" Dead?" were the words that slipped out of her lips and Nakago nodded slowly in return. " How? You said he was out doing something to stop those feather heads right? That back-up plan you've been telling me about or whatever."

" He was supposed to prevent the Suzaku warriors and priestess from summoning Suzaku. Amiboshi's aura has completely vanished, so-"

" The Suzaku constellations probably killed him." Izaya finished, nodding her head.

" I didn't think that they could beat someone like Amiboshi. . .calling Seiryu will be impossible now. . ." his voice drifted away from him, blue eyes narrowed and teeth grinding. Glancing up at him, Izaya looked him over carefully. Reaching out, she patted his arm, her hand gentle. It drew the blonde man's eyes onto her.

" Neh, neh, Nakago?" she spoke with a smile on her lips and an easy tone. AS though she had not just heard the grim news of one of her own warriors dying before she had even had the chance to speak with him. " There's more then one way to skin a cat." A frown formed on the general's face and though he kept glaring at her, one of his brows had risen up. " We'll find another way to summon Seiryu," she held his eyes, steady, but so long that Nakago looked away first, " but for now, I think someone needs a hug." Then with an easy wave of her hand at him, she pushed open the door.

Crossing the room, Izaya approached the grieving twin slowly, sliding her hands past each other before lacing her fingers, stopping a few feet away. It took him a few seconds to notice her. As he turned Suboshi had begun rubbing at his eyes and cheeks furiously, attempting to hide the tears that had been running down his face for some time it seemed. His dark eyes glared up at her from his knelt position.

" What do you want?!" he snapped at her. Simply standing there, Izaya's shoulders scrunched up, making her already small framework look all the tinier. A wry smile touched her lips and she crouched down beside him without speaking. He kept glaring at her, though the tears that he'd been trying to hold back were leaking free of his eyes, forcing him to wipe them away.

" For you to cry so much over him," she spoke with a little sigh, sitting down on the ground, " I'm jealous of your brother." Rolling his eyes, Suboshi snorted, looking away from Izaya.

" Don't mock me!" he scoffed. " You wouldn't understand how I feel!" She sat, just watching him for a time. Then, humming, Izaya nodded her head, bringing her knees to her chest. Wrapping her arms around her legs, she rested her cheek against her knee.

" You're right," She agreed gazing off at one of the walls beyond Suboshi as she went on, " I don't understand." there was a pause, one where Izaya raised her cheek from her knee. " That doesn't mean I can't be jealous of him, though." Turning, she smiled, finding Suboshi's teary eyes focused in on her. Catching his eyes, she held his gaze with her own, steady and calm. " You only cry like that for someone that you really cared about; really love. That's why I'm jealous." turning, she looked back over at the wall, touching her chin to her knees. " I hope that I'm at least half as lucky as he was, to have someone cry over me like that when I die." There was a short pause, one where Izaya was gazing off at nothing, absorbed in her own thoughts until a wretched sob made its way out of Suboshi. Blinking, she turned, finding him turned her direction completely, crying freely, hands clenched against his knees.

Sighing, Izaya got up onto her knees, extending an arm so that she could wrap it around his broad shoulders. The other drew him in closer, moving over the front of them, embracing him in a way that made it seem as though she were trying to protect Suboshi. As though she were trying to shield him from the world itself.

" I'm sorry, Suboshi," she murmured, letting the side of her head tap against his, " go ahead and cry; maybe when you're done you can tell me a little bit about your brother, neh?" From there, Suboshi simply cried all the more, turning his head so that his face rested against Izaya's shoulder. She sighed again, rubbing her hand against his back, soothing. Her eyes drifted towards the door, catching hold of Nakago's from beyond the threshold of the room. Smile broadening a little bit, her brows twisted, making her look somewhere between sad and embarrassed. Then, she refocused her attention onto Suboshi, hearing Nakago's footsteps as he final made his leave.~~

The following day, Izaya saw Suboshi again.

" Ah, Suboshi!" she called, waving at him when she spotted him approaching from down the hallway. As she met him half way, she saw him stiffen. Not noticing his unease, Izaya patted him on the shoulder none too gently and gave a broad smile. " Good to see you again! Are you feeling any better?" Her warrior's face flushed and his eyes fell to his feet, skuffing part of his shoe into the floor before saying anything to her in return.

" Y-yes. I'm sorry about yesterday-" he grumbled but was cut off when Izaya smacked him in the back of the head. " Ow!"

" Don't apologize!" she scolded, waving her finger back and forth at him. Her voice gentled as she dropped her arm over his shoulder. Curling her arm gingerly around his neck, though not tightly enough to unsettle him, she gave him a little shake." There's nothing wrong with getting upset about something like that. If it had been me, I would've been flipping tables and balling my eyes out." Suboshi seemed stunned. Blinking and giving his head a shake, he eventually nodded before lowering his eyes back to the floor. " I'm glad you're doing better." In response, Suboshi's head dropped even lower still and one of his hands caught the back of his head and started running through his hair.

" Y-yes, thanks, ah, Nakago said I should take you to the Seiryu Shrine." the young warrior mentioned and Izaya blinked at him.

" Oh? Is that so?" she said, crossing her arms and placing a hand on her chin. There was a short pause where the Seiryu priestess looked at the ceiling. Snapping back to attention suddenly, though, she shrugged her shoulders. " Well, we shouldn't keep him waiting. Let's go see what dear ole Nakago is up to, neh?" though she spoke this like a question, Izaya had already grabbed Suboshi by the arm and was dragging him back towards the nicely repaired shrine.

By the time they reached the shrine's front doors, however, the blonde haired general was already slipping out, shutting the door carefully behind himself. He only noticed Izaya and Suboshi approaching when he raised his head.

Blinking at him for a second, the priestess grinned, waving a hand high over her head as they got closer.

" Neh, neh, Nakago!" she greeted him, eying him carefully as she and Suboshi came to a stop. Taking a half step in front of the young boy, she placed a hand on her hip, putting herself squarely in front of the big warrior. When she didn't say anything right away, the older man frowned, narrowing his eyes and crossing his arms.

" Why are you looking at me like that?" he prompted her and his priestess gave a little hum, tilting her head from one side then to the other, moving her hips the same way as she did. The whole time her eyes never moved off of the general, though if this bothered him in the least it didn't show on his face.

" Well," she said, finally standing still, " I was just thinking how unusual it is for you to request my presence during the day like this." A single corner of her mouth tilted upward and she cocked the eyebrow on the same side of her face in an expression that the blonde man was getting to know too well. He gave a sigh under his breath before she even finished her next sentence. " A little eager for tonight, aren't you, airen?" The general placed his hand on his face, pinching the space between his eyes. Izaya was laughing, both hands on her hips while Suboshi's jaw hit the floor.

" A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-AIREN?!" he exclaimed, blushing so much that it stretched from ear to ear, the pink coloration even crossing the bridge of his nose. Stifling another sigh, Nakago raised his head.

" Please don't shout," he sniffed at the younger warrior, " someone will hear you." That seemed to snap Suboshi out of his shock, he shut his jaw and drew his shoulders up tall. The redness never left his face. Turning to his priestess, the general went on. " And don't tease the boy like that, Lady Izaya; unlike me, he'll actually believe what you tell him." When the female member of the group blinked and looked at him in utter befuddlement, Nakago replaced his hand on his face, this time rubbing his temples. In the mean time, the priestess girl was looking between her two celestial warriors. When her attention finally settled it was on the general again.

" Wait, you didn't warn him about me?" she inquired, blinking still, replacing a hand on her hip. " I thought you would've told him not to believe a damn thing that I say right away."

" He wouldn't have believed me until after meeting you." was the answer she got, though the blonde man never removed his hand from his face. The priestess scowled.

" Well, after you guys stopped in during my little drinking party the other day then." she snapped back.

" _I did_." he ground his teeth together as he spoke, twisting his head to glare at Suboshi as he added. " But _apparently_ I didn't make that point _clear_ enough to him." After two seconds of pause, Izaya gave a hum, then snapped her fingers.

" Damn!" she cursed in a low voice. " I just missed a golden opportunity!"

" Wait! So you two aren't. . .?" Suboshi's voice brought both the priestess' and the general's attention onto him. He didn't get the words out, looking at the two of them, blinking, the look in his eyes like that of a small child who'd just been denied the answer to a question he'd asked five times previously. Izaya and Nakago exchanged a glance.

Then, Izaya threw herself to the ground in a mass of hysterical laughter. Holding her sides, she rolled side to side, looking every bit the shameless child she was. Both men stood over her and watched, one confused, the other full blown angry. When she finally started to calm down, she sat up a little, only to lay back down on the floor.

" Ah- my sides hurt-!" she insisted, sputtering into giggles again, but attempting to sit up again. With her shoulders slumped and legs crossed, the girl turned a grin onto the blonde man. " I like this kid; he's going to be a lot of fun to have around." the general didn't respond to this in any way, still glaring at her. Suboshi's expression dropped so that his eyes were narrowed and his brow was twitching.

" Kid?" he muttered. Ignoring him, Izaya's smile shrank a few inches.

" So, what did you want to see me about at a place like this?" she asked, voice even though lightly tinted with curiosity. Those gray eyes caught onto the general's blue ones and as their stares held the tension in the man's face slowly eased away. His mouth tilted in a small smirk that made the priestess girl blink. Stepping around her, he stopped beside her.

" Skinning a cat." was the answer he gave then moved passed her, heading back down the hallway the two had just come from. There was a stunned silence then, one where both young people simply watched the general walk away.

" Huh?!" Suboshi's cry seemed to shake out whatever shock had set over Izaya, though the young celestial warrior didn't see the smile that spread across her face or the sparkle that entered her eyes. " Why are we skinning cats-?!" Laughing, the girl interrupted him, getting to her feet.

" Clever bastard!" she said to herself, Suboshi blinking, lost still. Running after the blonde man without any regard to her younger companion, Izaya called out. " NEH, NEH! I TOLD YOU THERE WERE OTHER WAYS OF SKINNING CATS! I TOLD YOU-!"

" Hey!" the young warrior rushed after them. " Why are we skinning cats?! WHY?!"~~~~~~~

Ta-da! Suboshi is finally on the scene! ( It took long enough, right?) Next up, they'll be making their way to Hokkan! Finally I can get Izaya out of that god damned castle! Random side note: Izaya tends to swear more when she's been drinking. Anyone notice that? lol. Anyways, read and review! Let me know what you think, how I could make it better, or just say hello! Until next time, wish me luck on my three exams this week!


	13. Dance

So it's been. . .two months or so since the last chapter. I'm sorry! (Don't kill me, please!) I blame school/writers block! I'm almost on summer break so I swear the next chapters will be up much faster then this one us. I'll do my utmost to keep up a semi-regular chapter update schedule while I have the time for it.

I'm working on typing up another story for a different area altogether (Anyone out there heard of Heart no Kuni no Alice? lol) and I might start doing that one along with this one. Hopefully that should eliminate some of that writers block.

Disclaimer! I don't own Fushigi Yuugi or any of it's characters. Izaya is mine so hands off.

Now, without any further adieu, here's the next chapter.~~~~~

They arranged to head for Hokkan within the next week. When Nakago had said that he was going to speak with the Emperor about the expenses for said trip, Izaya had insisted on coming along. Though he'd been suspicious, he allowed her to come.

It had been an uneventful meeting. The Emperor of Kuto had been playing with his usual harem at leisure until Izaya had entered at Nakago's heels. The big man had stiffened on sight of the Seiryu priestess; the general knelt down in front of him. The Seiryu priestess crossed her legs and sat down behind the blonde man, eyes shut and head tilted down at the floor. As the Kuto leader and the military man conversed, Izaya had been silent and completely still. The women at the Emperor's sides eyed the priestess in the same way cats did when their territory was invaded.

It was only near the end of the men's conversation that Izaya did anything. In the midst of a short silence, between when the Emperor and Nakago had finished talking and the general being dismissed from the room, the priestess had raised her head. She opened her eyes, looking at the big man. As the empire's leader flinched, careful not to look at the dark haired girl, a smirk parted Izaya's face. His harem women looked between the man they were serenading with their naked flesh and the young woman, fully dressed, across the room. Carefully tracing her glare over all three of them, the priestess cocked a brow, mouth tilted upward at one corner. She and Nakago were dismissed not long after that; Izaya never said a word.

Outside, the general glanced at the priestess over his shoulder. If he'd been about to say something it had been interrupted by Suboshi's sudden appearance. They both spotted him and stopped, the priestess smiling and waving her arm high over her head.

"Su- bo- shi!" she called to him in greeting, the boy raising his head and blinking.

"Lady Izaya." he bowed as he greeted her and the priestess scowled.

"Neh! Neh! I told you to stop bowing; makes me fucking uncomfortable." the young warrior blinked at her, expression blank. Glancing at Nakago, the general's mouth set in a firm line, Izaya sighed, turning from both of them and grumbling to herself. Both men watched her for a second before Nakago turned to Suboshi.

"Where are you going?" he said. The young warrior's eyes dropped down onto his feet. Shifting from foot to foot, when he raised his head he met the general's blue eyes with a stern face.

"I can't forget about my brother." his voice was as hard as his expression; set like stone. Crossing his arms, the older, taller man regarded his younger counter part with a careful eye.

"You want revenge." he stated, flatly and Suboshi averted his eyes, his hands clenching into fists. As the younger warrior growled and began grinding his teeth, Nakago glanced at Izaya. She blinked, expression blank. Turning back to Suboshi, the general dragged the younger warrior away. They appeared to argue for a short time before Suboshi stormed off. Watching him go, Nakago rubbed his temples and sighed under his breath. He closed the space between himself and Izaya again. As they started walking, the priestess gave a low laugh.

"He's being stubborn about this, isn't he?"

"He's being troublesome." the general scowled when she giggled at his words. "You're very easy going about all of this." She shrugged.

"If he's anything like me, he'll do what he wants no matter what anyone tells him. No sense trying to give eyes to someone who doesn't want to see. Besides, on stuff like this I don't like to turn myself into a hypocrite. Or, rather, I try to avoid it as much as I can."

Nakago tilted his head. "'Hypocrite'?" echoing that word, his arm was patted by the priestess.

"Yeah, but I won't bore you with story. It's dull; not interesting. I'll see you tomorrow morning, Nakago." she walked away, waving over her shoulder and the general watched her go. He followed her with his eyes until she disappeared around the corner of the hallway.~~

It was the day before they were leaving for Hokkan. Suboshi was missing and, as before, Izaya didn't seem the least bit concerned about it. She spent the day packing and discussing what to pack with the palace staff. She avoided the other Seiryu warriors that Nakago had introduced her to; which had been for the better. Her introductions to Soi and Tomo had been even greater disaster then her introduction to Suboshi. Izaya hadn't been drinking when she met Soi and Tomo, which had been the only up side of their meetings.(That it had started with the priestess calling Soi a man and Tomo a woman probably should have been warning enough to Nakago how the conversation would go from there) By the time dinner rolled around, Izaya had assured Nakago that she was well prepared for their departure.

It was dark when the sound of the music came echoing down the halls of the palace. Nakago had been conversing with Soi, ready to send her off on her next task when the sound had reached the two of them. Frowning, they glanced at one another before following the sound to its source. In truth, Nakago knew that it shouldn't have startled him to find out that all the noise was coming from Izaya's room. She'd been prone to bizarre behavior from the start and this was no different in that regard.

Still, when he opened the door his eyes widened; the music was played by a band of five, all varying in age and gender. They were all huddled in one corner of the room, erhu, pipa, dizi, zhongruan; it as was masterful orchestration. The middle of the room had been cleared out. One of the female members of the band had left behind her guzheng and was laughing and spinning with Izaya. As they reached a slower part of the song, the musician caught the priestess by the arm. She began to perform something of a demonstration; arms and legs moving in sweeping motions as Izaya stood back and watched. Clapping with delight, Izaya began to follow the other woman's lead, doing her best to keep up when the steps changed and laughing when she failed. Spinning once, she noticed Nakago and Soi in the door frame and grinned.

"Hello, hello!" she didn't stop moving and constantly glanced over her shoulder at her dance partner.

"What's all this?" Soi was the one to ask, looking between the musicians to her priestess. The song ended then and as she clapped, Izaya patted the woman whom she'd been dancing with on the back, grinning. The musician returned to the rest of her band mates and began setting up for the next piece while their sole audience member wiped the sweat from her brow and turned to her warriors.

"I was bored." she said, waving at the band. "Since Tamahome's gone and Suboshi's still recovering from his little adventure, there's nothing to do around here. We're leaving tomorrow so I can't sit still either." Shrugging, she spun around. "The Emperor sent these guys away earlier, so I asked them to come entertain me." Waving her hands towards the small collection of musicians huddled in the corner, she insisted. " They really do play wonderfully. The Emperor doesn't know what he's missing, am I right?" They clapped and laughed in return, bowing their heads to Izaya before starting up on their next number.

Laughed, Izaya began dancing once again. Spinning around, she eventually grabbed onto Nakago's arm and started to try pulling him into the center of the room.

"Come on! Dance with me!" she exclaimed, giddy. Abruptly, the general drew his arm out of his grasp. Glaring coolly at her, he looked like he'd just been insulted Izaya somehow. Taking no notice, Izaya giggled and lurched for his arms again. Nakago crossed his arms. Izaya stopped moving and her smile dropped to a pout. In return, she glared up at him, mimicking his scowl. Then, she drew her shoulders back, puffed up her chest and pointed an index finger at him. "I order you to dance with me!" A short pause followed this comment; the musicians didn't stop playing but were eyeing the situation with interest. Bending at the waist, Nakago lowered himself until he was at eye level with Izaya, holding her gray eyes with his narrowed blue gaze.

"In your dreams." he scoffed back at her, straightening up. They held eye contact and Nakago sneered, earning an even deeper pout from Izaya. The Seiryu priestess set her jaw and glared the worst she could up at the general of the Emperor's army.

"Fine," she sniffed, snobbish, stepping briskly around him, "Soi can be my amazing dance partner instead." Having grabbed the female warrior by the arm, Izaya yanked Soi out from behind Nakago and into the middle of her open bedroom. Soi stumbled in, looking around, searching for help it would appear, though she got none, not even from Nakago. Holding onto Soi's wrists, Izaya proceeded to jump around in some bizarre way that was no where near the dance that the musician had been trying to teach her before. For awhile Soi struggled in her attempt to try and follow the movements that Izaya did, but started to get the hang of it eventually. She let Izaya start to lead her along and spin her around.

Through it all, Izaya ended up behind Soi, the priestess' hands sliding along Soi's hips as she rested her chin against the warrior's shoulder, waist rocking side to side in time with the music and Soi all at once.

Instantly, Soi jerked free of Izaya, slapping the priestess across the face. A single side step was all it took for Izaya to regain her balance and her hand moved up slowly to cradle her reddening cheek. An indignant frown formed on her lips and she gave Soi a disappointed look rather then angry one. Though the band members didn't stop playing, they did glance at one another, exchanging unnerved looks.

"Ow! What was that for, Soi?" she groaned, like a child complaining about doing chores. Removing her hand from her cheek, she dabbed a finger at her lip in search of blood. Soi was flushed more red then anyone else in the room and was perhaps too dumbstruck to even say anything in retort to these words.

"Most girls I dance with like that part the best," Izaya went on, then stopped mid sentence and frowned, " though I suppose it helps that they're usually lesbians, neh?" The shock that ran through the room after that was strong enough that nobody noticed the smirk that pulled at Nakago's lips.

"Just what do you think I am, Lady Izaya?!" Soi exclaimed, aghast, shaking her head slowly side to side. The priestess of Seiryu scowled and crossed her arms, gazing at Soi.

"Oh, come on! It's not like you don't have anything that I don't." she sniffed, one of her hands planting itself against her side and slowly moving down the curvature of her hip down to her thigh. A mischievous grin parted Izaya's face yet again as she gazed at Soi the way a hungry cat does a mouse.

Soi didn't have time to react before Izaya leaped at her, holding her from behind. Hands groping Soi's breasts, Izaya leaned, body to body, against the female warrior to speak into her ear with a wicked whisper. "Literally. You've got to have at least twice the amount of baggage that I do. Guys must really like you." Once more, Soi aimed a slap at Izaya, but this time the young priestess jumped back before her warrior's hand could make contact.

Free, Soi scrambled away, hiding herself behind Nakago and peaking out around his broad shoulder. It was so akin to a child peaking out around a parent's leg, that Izaya let her head fall back and laughed.

As her laughter began to calm, her gray eyes fixated on the female warrior that was still hiding. Lifting her arms and letting her hands dangle at shoulder height, Izaya lowered her head, swaying along with the music. A sigh fell out of her mouth as she turned away from her two warriors, her head shaking side to side.

"Awe! If only Suboshi was here!" Sneering over her shoulder, her eyes found Soi yet again. "He, at least, knows how to take a joke. Beggars can't be choosers, I suppose."

"I think you overestimate the boy." A new voice entered into the conversation and turning around, Izaya noticed that Tomo had joined the other two of her celestial warriors by the door of her room. Sighing, Izaya angled her head downward and held out her arms.

"I don't suppose that you'd want to come dance with me, neh, Tomo?" she inquired and saw the magic man's face twist instantly. Her arms dropped at she shook her head. "I didn't think so. Damn you people are boring!" Scowling, she stomped her feet, walking over to her bed and throwing herself across it. She kicked and flailed her arms, a temper tantrum that her warriors ignored completely.

"We'll be leaving for Hokkan tomorrow," Tomo stated, taking several strides into the room, waving an arm in Izaya's direction, "you should be conserving your energy, not wasting it on useless," he stopped mid-sentence to sneer, "dancing." Izaya sat up quickly at that point. Her gray eyes focused on Tomo with such a glare that if it were tangible it would have set the warrior on fire.

After a second Izaya pulled at the bottom of her eye and stuck out her tongue.

"Who the hell asked your opinion on anything, neh, Tomo?!" she got to her feet, crossing the room to stand squarely in front of her warrior. Holding his eyes the entire way over to him, she gave him a sharp shove toward the door. "I'll have you know that I have spent hours on a dance floor and still managed to kick the ass of any guy fool enough to think he could get the best of me, so you can take your self righteous little speech and shove it up your ass."

Placing her hands on her hips, she popped the right out to the side. Taken aback, Tomo took a step away from Izaya, jaw unhinged. After one last shove from the priestess, Tomo had been forced back across the threshold, putting all three of her warrior's outside of her room. Turning her head, she swept a glare over the three warriors standing in her door frame.

"If you are going to dance with me or have anything important to tell me then speak up now." she insisted, straightening her back. When none of them said anything in return, she stomped her foot. "Then shoo! Get out of here and let me dance in peace." Raising her head high, she abruptly slammed the door in the faces of all three of her warrior. For a short time they simply stood there, Tomo and Soi appeared stunned.

"What was that about?" Tomo sniffed to no one in particular. Before either one could say another word, Nakago slipped away, heading for his own room. He could still faintly hear the music.~~

The next morning they were ready to set out. Nakago had originally arranged for Izaya to ride in a carriage along behind them, but when she'd heard about it she had insisted against it. Beyond the obvious fact that it would take longer and be a huge procession just begging to be robbed, she'd said something along the lines of "if we're going to ride cross country, we have to do it the right way." She deemed this "right way" to be simple horse back riding. They had been frustrated with one another they'd argued with one another to such an extent over it. Eventually, Nakago had agreed to go along with it.

If he'd realized what she was going to do the morning of their departure, however, he might have tried to keep the argument going until she broke. They headed out of the palace just as the sun was beginning to peak over the horizon. Izaya had, by some miracle gotten up early enough to go to the market. She came back as Nakago and the rest were packing their saddles, two large jugs of baijiu held fast in each hand.

"Good morning!" she called, raising one jug over her head and swinging it back and forth. The general crossed his arms as she closed the space between them, but if she noticed his cocked brow and dissatisfied expression it didn't show on her face.

Instead, she set down both jugs. Izaya clapped her hands together, gray eyes sparkling. Her mouth had spread into a wide smile as she rubbed her hands together, a little squeak falling out of her body. Nakago frowned, watching her as she took a few, tentative steps toward one of the horses. He moved to mount his horse, Tomo and Suboshi both following his example and sending curious glances at Izaya. Tomo sniffed as he watched Izaya stop and stand several meters away from her horse, leaning side to side and looking at the creature with an intense gaze.

"Don't be too excited, Lady Izaya," he scoffed, sighing and shaking his head at he mounted the dark stallion set for him, "you might give someone the impression that you've never actually seen a horse." The comment, meant as a joke, went unnoticed by Izaya. She continued to inspect the creature that stood before her. The horse's tail twitched lazily and it's ears turned backward then forward again, grazing sluggishly on the few grasses it could find in the dirt beside the palace pathway.

"Good, they should get that impression," she stated, easily, taking a step to the side in order to peer into the face of the tall creature, "considering I haven't seen a horse before." Her words, said with all the easy nature as one talking about the sky being blue or how the weather was nice today, took a second to sink into the heads of her companions. The three of them froze, their heads swinging to stare at her. Izaya didn't notice once more, gazing intently at the big brown eye of the chestnut spotted mare that was meant for her. Tentatively, she reached out a hand, placing it gently against the long nose and stroking it gently.

"You've never _seen_ a horse before?" Suboshi asked for confirmation, which Izaya gave without looking away from the animal. "Not even once?" She shook her head, taking a step further by stretching out and petting the horse on the neck, smiling fondly when it whined gently in return.

"Not before I came here." she answered, taking a quick glance over at him. "I'm a city girl; they only really have horses in the country where I'm from. Sadly, I'm not well traveled either." pausing, after a second she quickly added. "I've seen pictures of them before; all over the place." Gazing intently up at the animal, she finished softly. "Once I came to this world they're kind of all over the place, but I've never been this close before. So big!" she sighed, dazzled by this creature. The warriors glanced at one another at that point, exchanging gazes until Suboshi finally spoke up.

"What do we do now?" he inquired. These words grabbed Izaya's attention and she looked at her warriors, hand stroking the nose of the horse.

"What's the problem?" she insisted and the three men turned onto her. There was a short pause; Nakago was glaring at Izaya. Tomo was the one to break the silence, a sigh falling out of his mouth as he shook his head, the contorting of his face creating cracks in the make up that he had put on his face not too long ago.

"We organized our travel on the assumption that you already knew how to ride, Lady Izaya." he stated, tone somewhere between disgusted and dismal. "Soi has already been sent out on her next job with this plan in mind. If you don't know how to ride, the entire time table for this trip is ruined." Blinking, Izaya gave him a blank look.

"Well can't I just ride with one of you?" she inquired, nonchalant. Tomo's face contorted further, creaking more cracks in his make up mask.

"After what happened with Soi, I shiver at the thought of riding with you." he responded, Izaya instantly scolding and crossing her arms.

"Awe, come on! It was a joke!" she insisted, placing a hand on her hip and turning from him and muttering. "At least Soi was cute. You're so ugly I wouldn't dare do something like that to the likes of you." Stiffening like a board, Tomo and Izaya met eyes, each glaring at one another. A smirk formed on Izaya's lips after a few seconds and she broke their staring contest with a spin.

"Neh, neh, Nakago, I can ride with you, can't I? There wouldn't be a problem then, right?" For the moment, Nakago was silent, neither denying or accepting this request to ride with him for the time being.

Keeping his bright blue eyes hidden behind his eyelids, he said. "Even if you do ride with one of us, we will still be slower then if we had all ridden separately " Once again, Izaya gave a blank look at him, shrugging her shoulders.

"Then send Tomo ahead to meet Soi at the designated time and place." she stated, bland, Tomo jolting to attention when he heard his name. "So long as someone's there to meet her there's no problem. We're not all required to meet up with her. In fact, we don't all really need to be in Hokkan before those bird brains either." Tomo and Suboshi both had faces that showed a lack there of understanding.

Izaya raised her index finger. "If we split into two groups, one can act as a scouting team and go on ahead to Hokkan to find information on the Shinzaho. Then, the second group can act as a reinforcement team. That way we're at full force when it comes time to get the Shinzaho." Suboshi's eyes widened and a sparkle entered his eyes; impressed for some reason. Nakago rolled his eyes. "If we have two groups, I can stay with the back group and learn how to ride so that this doesn't remain a problem we have to deal with later on and we can still keep up with those feather heads."

"And you're sending me ahead, because. . .?" Tomo prompted and Izaya spun, pointing at him.

"I'm sending you ahead because we can't send a kid like Suboshi ahead for something so important like scouting." she answered. Suboshi couldn't have looked more heart broken by these words if Izaya had yanked it from his chest and beat it with a hammer right in front of him. Raising his brows, Tomo waited for Izaya to go on. "He's the youngest person here; he's more likely to make mistakes that someone like you or Nakago wouldn't, Tomo." Nakago arms crossed, raised a brow.

"That, however, is a double edged sword. If Suboshi isn't scouting then he's staying back with me. As the Priestess of Seiryu, though, that turns me into a target, which is why Nakago is going to stay behind." Turning, she made her way over to the general, walking a step behind him before placing his shoulder on his armor. "He's stronger then you, Tomo, so he would be able to make up for Suboshi's short comings in my protection better then you could. Thus," she waved her hand at Tomo and smiling, widely, "making you the one to go meet with Soi ahead of us."

That this had actually managed to convince Tomo was something of a miracle in and of itself. Leaving as a group, Izaya settled happily on the saddle in front of Nakago, the group setting out together. When it came time for the first break however, Tomo took his leave, heading out at a gallop ahead of them, leaving Suboshi, Nakago and Izaya. They rode for as long as they could, setting up a camp as the sun was setting. As they settled down to eat, Suboshi, having seemed depressed for the majority of the day, finally said what was on his mind.

"I can't believe you said all that!" he insisted to Izaya while eating his rice. Izaya threw her head back and laughed, so much so that she seemed almost hysterical. A flush colored Suboshi's face and he scowled. "It's not funny!" Holding her sides, Izaya attempted to calm herself down, reaching out and slapping the youngest Seiryu warrior on the back and shaking her head.

"Really had Tomo thinking you were useless, didn't I?" she said with a wolfish grin. The comment was met with anger until Izaya's intent gaze finally seemed to clue Suboshi in.

"Wait, Tomo? Just Tomo?" he inquired and the smile that had been on Izaya's face the entire time that she'd been gazing at Suboshi widened as she slowly nodded her head once at him. "Then, you don't really think I'm-?"

"If you were useless, I would've told you to stay home." Izaya responded, matter-of-fact. "I was just trying to get Tomo to leave. He's annoying and wouldn't have let me have any fun along the way." Smiling as she eats a bit of rice from her bowl, she glanced from Suboshi to Nakago and back again. "With you two I'll be able to enjoy myself completely; without a worry-" Nakago gave a snort. Giving a nervous laugh, Izaya amended. "Aside from finding the Shinzaho and summoning Seiryu of course."~~~

There we are! I finally got Izaya out of the palace! YAAYAYAYAYAYYAYAAY! Now she might actually do more then just sleep, read, and eat all day. XD Oh, I rattled off the name of a few Chinese instruments.

Erhu is a two stringed instrument that's played kind of like a cello (except it's much smaller; it can be played from your lap and is very light weight).

Pipa is a four stringed instrument; sometimes called the Chinese lute. Frets range from 12-26.

Dizi are basically flutes and are typically made out of bamboo

Zhongruan is played like a guitar; it has 24 frets and 4 strings and it played with a pick or fingers.

Finally, Guzheng is a zither that can have over 23 strings. It has removable bridges; similar to the Japanese koto.

That's the Chinese lesson of the day! There will be more to come soon and I promise it won't be in two months again! I promise! T-T In the mean time, read and review please!


	14. Horse

Ta-da! The next chapter! It hasn't been two months either! It's not as long as some of the other chapters, but I felt like this was the best place to cut this chapter. Chapter 15 should be along very shortly, maybe even within a few days. So read on dear reader!

I do not own Fushigi Yuugi; if I didn't I wouldn't have to go to college right now T-T I do own Rin Izaya. She's mine!~~~~~

Izaya picked up horse back riding so quickly that her two celestial warriors began to think she'd lied to them. Suboshi had been given the responsibility of teaching the Seiryu priestess how to ride. When Nakago checked in on their riding session two days later, Izaya looked as though she'd been riding all of her life, spurring the horse to a gallop. She guided her mare easily with the reins, Suboshi frantically trying to get her to slow down. Laughing at his efforts, Izaya dancing her mare to arm's length of Suboshi. Then she swiveled the creature out of his reach just as Suboshi made a grab for the reins. The mare brayed, laughing along with its rider. Needless to say, Izaya was riding alongside Nakago and Suboshi the following day.

"You're a fast learner, Lady Izaya." Suboshi commented as they had their horses walking side by side on one particular path. Izaya grinned at him, bobbing in beat with her mare's body movements.

"Yeah, I wasn't expecting horse back riding to be so easy." she reached out a hand and stroking her horse's neck. Its body twitched where Izaya touched it, tossing its head. A giggled escaped Izaya's throat. "It helped that this baby girl is so docile, neh?"

Humming, Suboshi nodded. "Or the way you talk makes your horse think that you're one of them." he laughed, blocking the punch that his priestess aimed at his shoulder. "You seem very fond of animals." Izaya's head fell back, a light laugh tickling the air.

"Well, they're honest." she nodded, rolling the leather reins between her fingers.

"Honest?" he asked and was answered with a hum.

"They don't pretend to be something that they're not," she raised one hand, rolling it in a circle several times as she spoke, "and they do what they must to survive. If they want to eat they find food; if they want sleep they sleep. Predators are not persecuted for being what they are; prey does not demand justice from an unjust world." sighing she shook her head as her eyes fell onto Suboshi. "I envy them; I want the freedom they have." leaning forward, she rested her head against her mare's mane, stroking its neck. No matter how many times Suboshi tried to ask her what she meant by that, Izaya never answered him.~~

On the third day of travel, they were making good progress. They were already ahead of schedule and when Nakago had informed Izaya of it, she bore her teeth as she grinned. She'd taken to proclaiming it loudly several times throughout the morning. It was almost noon when they came upon another group of travelers. Arching her neck and standing up in her stirrups, Seiryu's priestess tugged on the reins.

"What's that?" she jerked her head at the group, Nakago easing his stallion beside her. Suboshi spun his horse around, frowning and squinting.

"More travelers like us." he reported and Izaya rolled her eyes.

"I know that; I mean what's going on? Why are they stopped?" she said pointing at the two carts. They weren't too far from the other group; they could make out the forms of the passengers in the wagons and the four men that were in the long grass. The black outline of a horse shown between the men. The four ran to and fro around the creature.

"It doesn't matter; they're none of our concern." Nakago said.

"Oh, don't be a spoil sport! This is my first time traveling and these are the first group of fellow travelers that we've seen." Izaya scowled and glared at him at the same time.

"Looks to me like they lost control of one of their horses." Suboshi reported and before either warrior could react, their priestess had thrown herself from the back of her mare and took off at a run toward the two wagons and four men. Stunned, they both stared after her, Izaya's back retreating further and further into the grass that reached up to her shoulder blades.

She looked like a deer running through the plain, slapping one of the men on the back when she reached them. "Let me see if I can help." she said with a smile, the dusty haired man she'd touched startled by her sudden appearance.

"Let her join, Akaron!" the man on the opposite side of the circle called to his companion. "Maybe she'll have more luck then we've had with Longma." four people shifted, giving Izaya as much space to guard as the four strangers around her. Her two warriors had followed after her.

"Lady Izaya-!"

"Stay back!" she snarled before Suboshi could get more then these two words out of his throat. Her eyes hadn't moved off of the stray horse; a black stallion with a white patch shaped like an arrow near the base of its tail. As stallion during its dark eyes onto her, Izaya hopped in place. She never took her eyes off of the creature. "Especially you, Nakago! The big guy's already freaked out enough; the last thing we need to do is intimidate him more!"

"She's right!" the same man that had called from across the circle did so again then. "Back off! The five of us will handle it!" It was only after a moment of hesitation that Suboshi and Nakago stepped back. "Alright boys! Take it nice and slow, ya hear?! Don't try to rope him unless there's a chance to do it! Safety is the priority!" Izaya hollered agreement with the other three men and they worked carefully. They stepped forward one at a time, the others keeping the circle in place while the one man would try to coax the horse to quiet. There had been two failed attempts before Izaya was given a chance.

"Easy boy," she spoke as she stepped forward, the dusty haired stranger from half choking on a word of protest, "it's okay. You're okay, big guy. What a handsome boy you are too." hooves stomping, the stallion's head rounded, big, dark eyes focusing in on the priestess' face. From a few short meters away, Suboshi stood stock still, watching with wide eyes. Izaya hushed to the black horse, taking another step forward. "It's okay; I'm not going to hurt you. I swear that on my life." She drew an "x" over her heart with an index finger, gray eyes focused into those larger, dark horse eyes. The two men that made the circle as her sides started to step forward.

"Stay where you are, dammit!" Izaya snapped at them without looking at them. Both men froze and glanced at one another before stepping back one step each.

There was a moment of pause; the stallion had stopped stomping its hooves. Its head swayed and body shifted, but its focus was on Seiryu's priestess. She stood almost completely still. Both her hands were up, both palms held up and facing the horse and she stretched out one arm to it. "I'd like to meet you properly; my name's Rin Izaya." Another moment of utter stillness passed. Izaya gazed, unyielding, at the stallion.

It was the horse that closed the distance between itself and the priestess; it was the horse that touched its nose to her hand and snorted. Giggling, Izaya continued to gaze at the stallion. She began stroking its snout, tilting her head and smiling softly at it.

"There you are; you're not such a bad guy." as she continued to speak in a low voice to the animal, the men around her relaxed, turning befuddled expressions onto one another. One of them shrugged and laughed. Suboshi and Nakago watched it all unfold.

"How did she. . .?" Suboshi's voice was airy, as though he couldn't breath. Nakago stared on, silent and un-moving.

Eventually, Izaya had led the stallion back to one of the men that she'd been helping. A sheepish smile colored her face and she scratched the back of her head.

The man she stood in front of had the same hair style as she did; short, black and spiked up. His eyes were a vibrant red, the color of blood. There were two scars on his face, a small one that cut his left eyebrow in two and a long, thin scar that ran parallel along his right cheek bone. The warmth of his smile was warm; completely non-threatening.

"Thank you for your help, Miss." he bowed his head.

"Yeah, you really helped us out." it was the dusty haired man that Izaya had slapped on the back when she'd first arrived and he grinned at her with an equally disarming smile. His hair was curly, forming tendrils that half hid his green eyes.

"Not at all," Izaya flicked her wrist, glancing at the stallion, "he's a beautiful horse." The curly haired man rolled his eyes as his dark haired companion reached out to the black stallion.

"Longma is very beautiful." it was the dark haired man that spoke, taking the bridle and reins held out to him by the third man of their horse wrangling group; a boy that couldn't have been more then a year or two younger then Suboshi. The curly haired man snorted.

"Longma is a trouble maker, Kuhan" he retorted, "I told you we shouldn't have brought him along. He lives up to his name sake a little too well." Izaya giggled.

"Longma, _dragon horse_," she voiced, stroking the stallion's neck, "it suites you, big guy. Between you and Seiryu, I'm starting to think that I'm some kind of dragon tamer." as she laughed to it, Longma tossed its head, snorting as though it found her comment annoying.

The four horse wranglers that Izaya had helped looked between one another. After a second the forth man, a blue eyes man with a serious face and a scar trailing down in front of his left ear tapped Kuhan's shoulder, jerking his head at Izaya's shoulder. The dusty haired man frowned, arching his neck and looking along with the two of them.

"That tattoo," he murmured, eyes widening as he raised his gaze onto Izaya's face, "you're not the Priestess of Seiryu, are you?" that had gotten everyone's attention. Three women stood up from within the two wagons, one of them had a young boy clinging to her leg. Blinking, Izaya looked between the four men, then glanced at her two warriors. She scratched the back of her head.

"Looks like we've been figured out, neh?" she said. There was an explosion of excitement from the group of strangers. They gasped, squealing and laughing in delight. Throwing themselves together, everyone in the wagons piled out while Longma was strapped into place in front of one of the wagons by Kuhan. As they hustled to gather together, Izaya tried to get them to stop, but was completely ignored. She glanced at Nakago, her cheek reddening; Nakago mentally foot noted it as the first time that he'd seen his priestess blush.

"Let me introduce you to everyone." the curly haired man finally said, smiling, walking and talking at the same time. "My name is Akaron Yu and this here," as a dark haired woman with a long scar across the bridge of her nose stepped forward, he placed an arm around her waist, "is my lovely wife, Hanna." She gave a broad smile, one that reminded Nakago distinctly of Izaya.

"Pleased to meet you, priestess." she greet, shaking hands with the priestess.

"The pleasure's mine."

"Ah, and this little ankle biter is our son, Suna." Akaron placed a hand on the head of the eight year old boy clinging to his wife's leg. Glancing up from behind wavy black tendrils, Suna's eyes were the same amethyst shade as his mother's eyes were. Suna gave a tentative smile and wave at Izaya and her two warriors, never stepping from safety of his mother's leg.

"Over there is my wife's brother, Zukar Tor, his wife, Ena, and there two children, Hokar and Onara." Akaron waved at each respective person as he spoke. Zukar, the forth man of the horse wrangling group and the man that had pointed out Izaya's dragon tattoo, had an undeniable resemblance to Kuhan. He had given his bright blue eyes to his daughter, Onara. Both children had brown hair like their mother, Ena. Hokar had been the third man in the horse wrangling group and had Ena's steely gray eyes. A year or two younger then Suboshi, the stern expression he wore was nearly identical to that of his father.

"We're honored to meet you, priestess." Ena said, her warmth contrasting with the tension that showed in both her husband and son. Izaya smiled and nodded. Her smile widened when Zukar nodded back.

"And over here," Akaron jerked his head at the three remaining people, "is my _other_ brother-in-law, Kuhan Tor, his daughter Elia and his lovely, pudgy wife, Astrad." With both hands on her rounded belly, Astrad scowled at Akaron, her blonde hair showing white in the mid-day sun.

"I'm not pudgy, I'm pregnant." she sniffed. The top of Elia's head only reached to her mother's waist, but she ran out in front of her parents, hair cascading behind her like a black waterfall. Akaron rolling his eyes.

"And as you can see, she hasn't gotten through the mood swing stage yet-" he yelped as Elia kicked him in the shine. While her uncle was hopping on one leg, Elia pouted, both hands on her hips.

"Don't make fun of Mama, Guzhang!" she said in a huff. Izaya laughed right along with Hanna and Astrad; Kuhan, the red eyed man from the horse wrangling group, laughed under his breath. Elia spun around, running up to her mother and aunt. "I scolded him right this time, didn't I? Just like you told me, right, Mama, Gugu?" Akaron was scowling as Hanna and Astrad laughed. Astrad trailed her fingers through her daughter's hair.

"Yes, you did very well, Elia." she agreed, Hanna patted Astrad on the arm.

"She learns fast." she bore her teeth as she grinned. While Akaron was aiming a glare at his wife and sister in law, Kuhan sighed.

"Aiya," he shook his head, coming up beside Astrad, putting his arm around her, "don't teach El something like that; I'm worried enough as it is about when she gets older. If she starts acting too much like the two of you it's only going to make me even more nervous." his wife raised a brow.

"Oh, you're always nervous," she rubbed her extended belly, "what are you going to do if this little one ends up being a girl too?"

"Don't even joke about that." bending down, Kuhan resting his ear against his wife's stomach. "The next one is going to be a boy; I just know it." Astrad rolled her eyes, shaking her head and sparing a glance at the priestess and celestial warriors.

Running a hand through Kuhan's hair, she said. "Whatever you say, airen; now stand up. We have guests and you're embarrassing me." Nuzzling her stomach, he mumbled something to it before giving it a kiss and standing. Catching Elia's gaze, Kuhan extended his hand to her. Smiling, she took her father's hand, hopping to his side and making bouncing noises as she went. Smiling at Elia, Kuhan raised his head and focused on Izaya and her two warriors.

"Seiryu has given us quite the blessing today," he bowed his head to her again, "thank you for helping us with Longma, priestess. We're in your debt."

A tight laugh left Izaya's throat and she scratched the back of her head. "It was no trouble, we were passing close by anyway." she spoke much too quickly then gasped, holding up her index finger. "Neh~! We haven't introduced ourselves to you." turning away, it took her a few seconds to gather herself together; Nakago mentally foot noted this as the first time he'd seen Izaya flustered.

"M-My name is Rin Izaya; call me Izaya. These are my two warriors." she waved at them, the hand motion also faster then normal. "Suboshi is the little one and Nakago is the big scary looking guy." Both of her warriors shot glares at her.

"_Little_?!" Suboshi scowled, crossing his arms. The children giggled, earning a glare from the young warrior. Then it was Hanna, Astrad and Ena who started to laugh. Giving a tight laugh himself, Kuhan bowed to the celestial warriors once each.

"You'll have to forgive us. If we were at home we could offer all of you a meal or at least a little tea," Twisting his head around, he looked at his siblings and their families, "but as you can see we're a little in shambles at the moment."

"No, no, you don't have to worry about that. I'm not really comfortable with that kind of thing anyway. Why are you all traveling right now?" Izaya's change of subject was abrupt, making it all the more obvious that she was struggling to keep up with the conversation. Exchanging glances, Zukar, Hanna, and Kuhan shared embarrassed smiles. Elia jumped forward.

"We're going to visit Yeye and Nainai!" she clapped her hands, bouncing in place as she gazed up at Izaya.

"Neh! Is that so?!" Izaya raised a brow. "And where do your Yeye and Nainai live?"

"In North Kuto," she declared, placing her hands on her hips and stomping a foot, "right near the Hokken-"

"Hokkan, Elia." Astrad interjected and twisted her head around, Elia pouted, nodding her head.

"That's what I said; Hokken." both Elia's parents rolled their eyes, but didn't correct her again. Izaya blinked, glancing over her shoulder at her two warriors, then back at the travelings families.

"What a coincidence; we were headed for Hokkan ourselves." she turned to her warriors. "Since we're all headed the same direction, why don't we all travel together? It's safer to travel in groups, isn't it? Besides, we're already ahead of schedule to meet with the others. We're not exactly in a rush." Nakago aimed a glare at Izaya. Catching his eyes, a wolfish grin crossed her face.

"Oh no, we couldn't." Ena's soft voice hit the air. "We'd be distracting you from your duties as priestess."

"Pfft!" Izaya flicked her wrist. "I can perform my duties quite fine around all of you. Honestly you would all be doing me a favor; helping me relax and take my mind off the bigger problems our country is facing right now." placing a hand over her heart, she shook her head and sighed. "These are troubling times."

"Don't we know it." Zukar sniffed, speaking for the first time. Turning, Izaya blinked at him. Turning to him, Ena slipped her arm, catching Zukar's elbow with her own. His facial features softened, but only a little. Kuhan gave a low sigh.

"Forgive my gege," he murmured, "he's been troubled as of late." Zukar glared at his brother, but if it bothered Kuhan it didn't show. Turning back to Izaya, he said. "If you want to travel with us and it will not trouble you or your companions, it would be our pleasure to have you in our company."

"We won't be troubling you, will we?" the tone of her voice caught her warriors by surprise. She sounded concerned. They turned stares onto Izaya, but if she saw them it didn't show in her face. She was focused on Kuhan and the rest. Pausing, it took Kuhan a moment to answer. He glanced at Astrad then back around at Akaron. Shrugging, Akaron made a face.

"No, you won't be any trouble at all." Kuhan answered, warm, Astrad nodding.

"Especially if you can keep Longma tame for us." Hanna put in, placing a hand on her hip. "He's not fond of anyone besides Onara and Kuhan around here and neither of them have been able to calm that horse as quickly as you did there." The smile that crossed Izaya's face seemed more like an extension of Hanna's smile rather then a separate one.

"Okay; let us know if we can be of any help to you while we're here. I'm not a free loader and I refuse to let either of my boys slack off." Izaya jerked her head at Suboshi and Nakago. Both of them glared at her, but it only earned them laughs from their new travel companions.~~~~~

Alright! That's the chapter! Kuhan and co. are all OCs that I actually made for an original story. I added them into this because I wanted to develop their family dynamics a bit more (plus I love them all to death XD). I'm hope that the family structures were understandable when I wrote them, but just in case I'll try to make it more clear here.

Zukar- Oldest Ena- Married to Zukar Hokar- Zukar and Ena's son Onara- Zukar and Ena's daughter

Hanna-Middle Akaron- Married to Hanna Suna- Hanna and Akaron's son

Kuhan- Youngest Astrad- Married to Kuhan (currently pregnant) Elia- Kuhan and Astrad's daughter

Zukar, Hanna and Kuhan are siblings. Hokar is the oldest of the children at 14; Onara is second at 12; Suna is 8; Elia is 6. All the adults are anywhere from early forties to early thirties (There's a 10 year age difference between Zukar and Kuhan.) Hopefully that helps clear things up. ^^;;

There are two Chinese lessons in this chapter too! "Long" is dragon in Mandarin and "Ma" is horse. So the stallion's name is a combination of the two. (Most Chinese first names have a two hanzi combination like this so it would be considered normal.)

The other Chinese terms I use in this chapter are forms of family titles such as aunt, uncle, grandfather, etc. The word for aunt/ uncle varies in Chinese depending on if said aunt/ uncle are older or younger. It also varies depending on if the person has married into the family or is directly related. Here's the list! I'll list terms as they are used chapter by chapter.

Gugu- Aunt (father's older sister) Guzhang- Uncle (married to father's older sister)

Yeye- Grandfather (father's family) Nainai- Grandmother (father's family)

Gege- Older brother

Mama- Mother (this is exactly the same in Chinese and English oddly enough!)

Okay, that should be everything I think! (I made up for that lost chapter space with these bottom notes; Opps ^^;;;) As I said, the next chapter should be up again very soon so be patient please! Until then review, fav, do as you please dear readers!


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